Welcome to the Freelancers
by Reaper10119
Summary: The Freelancers are introduced to a new agent, who brings with him a large variety of questions. Soon they all become drawn into the mystery. Who the hell is this new agent, and why is in in the program? And why are they all of a sudden being sent on a whole new variety of missions? rated t, may become M in the future depending on what i do with the relationships.
1. Chapter 1

**Howdy all! been toying around with this idea and finally decided to sign up on here and share it for everyone else to read. This starts after the Tex vs Wyoming/York/Maine fight in season 9 but before the mission to retrieve the sarcophagus. I will be putting that mission into the story, however it is being postponed to a later date due to York's injury. Please review! I really want to try writing this to evolve around the characters, and I will deffinetly take any ideas you offer into consideration to be implemented in the plot. Thanks!**

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The Freelancers were enjoying a very rare occasion aboard _The Mother of Invention_. A day off. They were all relaxing in a large rec room specifically dedicated to the agents. Not a single one of them was wearing their armor, all enjoying the freedom from the restrictive suites. C.T. was sitting on a loveseat in pink pjs reading a beat up and ancient looking book. Wash and Maine were playing air hockey, with Maine constantly scaring Wash into jumping under the table for cover from the plastic disk. Carolina, York, North, South, and Tex were playing video games, yelling fiercely when one of the others would kill them. And Wyoming was sipping a cup of tea watching the madness of the five playing video games.

"Maine! Stop hitting the puck so hard! You're going to kill someone! Namely me!" Wash yelped in fear as the green thing flew over the table edge and embedded itself into a metal bulkhead. The large brute of a man let out a terrifying noise that sounded like the mix of a growl and a laugh. Wyoming looked over to the door, which kept sliding open as more and more marines ran by. "What are those lads up to?" He asked no one in particular. Carolina paused the game, causing the others playing to protest in annoyance, before she got up and grabbed one of the marines running through the hallway. "What the hell is going on?" She asked him angrily. She was actually enjoying a day off, and she was damned if the stupid marines were going to ruin the rare event. "New recruit is about to land in bay 7, coming from a Prowler class ship!" The man said excitedly. "Bay 7? As in THE bay 7? The off limits bay 7? The one Arizona and Alaska went into and were never heard from again?" Carolina asked. "Yes ma'am. The bay isn't off limits for now, so we are all going to see!" The marine said, before running back out. "What do you guys think? Want to go check it out?" She asked the others, who were all looking at her. "I'm in." York said. "Maybe we can find Alaska and Arizona!" Wash enthused. "That was months ago. If they got lost in a hanger bay for that long, I don't expect to find them." South grumbled. The group all got up and walked the halls to the hanger. They all looked at the metal door that would lead into the bay, trading looks with one another, before they walked up and entered the door. The catwalks around the walls were filled with excited chattering marines, and three pelican drop ships were gently landing in the large hanger.

"Well… this room is anticlimactic." York said. Along one side of the room was a bunch of scientific machinery, tables, and tools. The back ramp of one of the pelicans dropped down and out stepped a man in baggy blue jeans, combat boots, and a tight fitting black shirt. The agents all stared at this new man, who easily dwarfed even the brutish Maine in size by at least four inches. He looked young, but was ripped with muscles. He had obscenely pale white skin, with dark brown hair cut short and styled in messy spikes. "Scythe! Did they bring all the equipment from the Prowler?" He growled, looking over a data pad. A full sized hologram appeared in front of him, clad in black and red Fotus armor. "Yes, all equipment is accounted for." The AI sighed, crossing his arms. "Fine. So am I supposed to unload it all myself?" He asked, tossing the data pad onto a desk. "Unless you magically develop a way for me to become corporeal instead of digital, or the crowd up there gets ordered to help you, then yes you will be unloading alone." Scythe said, before disappearing. The man sighed and walked back into the pelican, and carried out a rather heavy looking crate. He didn't even seem to be struggling with the crate, which had all the Freelancers looking on in amazement. "Since you all seem so intent on being here, I suggest you all go and help him unload the pelicans." The southern drawl barked from behind the crowded marines, striking fear into their hearts. The freelancers all stood at attention side by side as the Director walked up, the Councilor in tow.

"Agents. Follow me. I would like to introduce you to our newest recruit." He said, before leading the group down to the hanger floor, where the large man was unloading another crate. "Kale?" The councilor said from behind him as the man was putting the crate down. "Yes, sir." He responded, turning around and standing at attention. "I'm the Councilor, and this is The Director. He is in charge of our program." Kale smirked at the nervousness that was heard in the dark skinned man's voice. "You are going to be assigned as agent Colorado. These will be your squad-mates, Agents North and South Dakota, Carolina, Washington, Wyoming, Connecticut, Texas, Maine, and New York." The Director drawled, indicating each of the members by their code names. "I look forward to working with you all. And working for you, Sir. So long as you uphold your end of the deal, I will mine." Kale said, his face showing his obvious pleasure as the Director's body obviously tensed in anger. "Don't you worry about that, Colorado. As you can see you have your own work bay right here. And all the other terms of the agreement will be upheld." The Director seethed, before leaving the room and the shocked freelancers. "You just- he didn't- What the hell is going on!?" Wash yelled in confusion. "Councilor, what just happened?" York asked, looking between the smug looking Kale and the door where the Director had just walked out. "It's… complicated." The Councilor said, before walking out after the director.

"Hey! Watch that crate! You drop that and so help me I'll make sure you end up in some shitty box canyon in the middle of B.F.N!" Kale yelled at one of the marines who had almost dropped a black and orange crate that was made of some weird metal. "What is all this stuff?" C.T. asked, looking at one of the crates. "Just some special stuff. You'll see. Eventually." Kale brushed off.

With the help of the marines, Kale's crates were quickly unloaded from the pelicans and stored throughout the bay. "So, what all were you up to before I so rudely interrupted your day? Obviously it was fun, since you are all in pjs and sweats." He said with a laugh as he grabbed a duffle bag with his personal items for his room. The freelancers all looked at themselves and the unprofessional state of their dress. "Sorry, we weren't informed you would be joining us until the last minute." C.T. said sheepishly. "Are you kidding me? Sweats always mean you're up to something good. Means the task was more interesting." He laughed, leading the way to the door. "We were having the rarest event of all. A day off." North said. "Awesome! Well does anyone mind giving me a quick tour of the ship before you all get back to that?" Kale questioned hopeful of not having to wander the ship aimlessly. "Sure! I'd be happy to." The one voice of the group everyone least expected to volunteer for the task, besides Maine, rang out. South gently pushed Kale forward into the hall and looked back at the astonished faces. "What? He's hot!" She mouthed to them before pushing Kale around a corner and out of sight. "Someone pinch me, I think I'm dreaming." Wash mumbled. He instantly wished he hadn't, because he was almost instantly pinched by the other seven. "OW! SON OF A BITCH!" He cursed. The eight of them returned to their abandoned tasks back in the rec room, all wondering what kind of insanity they would be in for with the addition of the mysterious Colorado to their ranks.

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**Thus ends chapter 1! Please review :p Will have the next chapter up sometime within the next 24 hours or so! Also, let me know which characters you would like to see the most interaction with one another and whatnot. and especially let me know which ones you want to get together!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here it is! chapter 2! I said I'd have it up quick lol. Enjoy! and don't forget to review =P**

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The freelancers eventually decided to all start playing an ancient dancing game in the rec room, trying to match the moves of the poorly animated person on the screen as a camera watched them. North and Maine had just finished their round, both failing miserably and ignoring the jeers from the others, as a furious looking South stormed in. "This is bull shit!" She hissed in anger. The others traded looks wondering what the hell had happened. "The new guy is a fucking asshole!" she ranted. "What the hell happened?" Tex asked pushing off the wall she had been leaning on.

"I showed him around the whole damn ship, the training room, the mess hall, the locker room and the armory, the bridge. And then I show him the dorms and they already had a door with his name next to it. His room is fucking huge and nice! Privileged fucking asshole!" She screamed. "What the hell South? He's been here less than three hours and you already got into his room? That's quick, even for you." Wash said cheekily. The whole room looked at him in shock. Wyoming and York, who were sitting next to him, moved away as if he suddenly had contracted the plague. "It's been nice knowing you ol' chap." Wyoming said sadly as the realization of what he had just said washed over Wash's face. Before he could utter an apology South punched him in the face, knocking him back over the couch. "You sick freak! I saw it when his door slid open!"

"Aren't you over reacting for a room?" Tex asked with a shake of her head. "Don't act like you have any idea, Ms. Fucking perfect. You're obviously the Director's favorite, and we've all seen how you get special treatment. And you have a tiny ass shoebox of a room with a bed designed for kids just like the rest of us! His room had a giant bed, plenty of space, and was decorated so as not to even look like it was in a damn ship! Plus he has that whole damn supposedly restricted bay now for whatever the hell those crates were. He's obviously going to end up some spoiled ass prick!"

"South, calm down. Of course he's going to need a bigger bed. The dudes huge! Give the guy a chance!" North tried to calm his sister down. "Yeah, let's get to know him before we decide on him being an ass. Besides, he can't be worse than Wash." York joked. "Speak of the devil!" He added as the door slid open and Colorado walked in. "Hey! I found you guys. I just wanted to thank you for showing me around, South." He said triumphantly. "Oh, shut the hell up!" South growled before storming out the door. "Did I miss something?" He wondered. "Sorry. My sister can be a bit…" North paused, searching for the proper description. "Crazy? Insane? Psychotic?" Wash interjected, holding his hand over his eye. "I was going to say sporadic. But I guess those would work too." North finished, laughing. "…Ok then… so what are you all up to?" Colorado wondered. "Playing an old dance game. You can take my turn; I'd rather not go against Carolina. I'd rather go against someone less skilled at dancing. Like Wyoming!" C.T. said happily. "Thanks for that. It's much appreciated." Wyoming said sarcastically as Carolina started picking the song for them to dance to. "I've never really danced before." Colorado said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"You've never danced!? What about in School? They always have multiple dances every year." C.T. said in shock. "I had a very…unique education experience. We didn't have dances." He laughed uneasily. "Well then this should be easy for me! Just follow the moves that the guy on the screen does. The more accurately you execute the move the more points you get. And the moves usually end up as a pattern if you look close enough." Carolina said before starting the round. She ended up with an easy lead to start with as Colorado watched the moves and clumsily followed. About a quarter of the way into the game he found the rhythm and managed to quickly close the gap, coming really close to Carolina's score before the song ended. "That was pretty good! You learn fast." The redhead said the happiness in her voice coming across as slightly faked. Colorado didn't seem to notice, but the rest of the room did. Carolina was thinking he might be a threat to her position on the leaderboard, something she was already furious at Tex about.

"Dinner is now ready in the mess hall." An artificial voice said over the intercom of the ship. "Who was that?" Colorado asked. "The ships AI, F.L.I.S.S." Tex said. After the announcement Maine, Wash, Wyoming, North, and York all bolted out the door and could be heard running through the halls. By the sounds of it, someone even managed to knock over a pair of marines, who were yelling angrily after the five male agents. Colorado stared after them, his thoughts wondering what kind of crazy people he was now working with. "We should probably get going. Everyone rushes to the mess hall after that announcement and the late comers end up with the crappy food." Tex said. "Racing for food? That brings back memories." Colorado chuckled with a fond smile, before he chased after the girls who had bolted out the room. He watched as they nimbly led the way through the halls, each of them dodging the marines with ease. He chose a simpler routine. He would let out fierce battle growls to alert the marines to his presence and watch as they hastened to remove themselves from his way. He ran through a doorway onto a catwalk that turned to his right, and led to stairs down to the floor of the big room twenty feet below them, and on the wall opposing the catwalk was a doorway with bright yellow letters saying mess hall. He decided to just hurdle over the catwalk rails and landed on the ground below, tucking into a roll as he went, before he popped back up and bolted into the door before the girls had even gotten all the way down the stairs.

Inside the mess hall he saw a small line of marines for the food, and the male agents sitting at a table eating and occasionally throwing their food. South was also in the room, sitting alone at a table eating a small plate of food and giving off a vibe that said stay the hell away from me. Colorado got into the line behind the marines, and smirked as the girls entered the room and walked up behind him. "A twenty foot drop without any armor on? Are you crazy?" Tex scolded him. "Technically…a little." The new agent joked; though it didn't make the female agents smile. "Unnecessary risks like that are very bad for freelancers! You could have broken something and screwed up the training sessions for the rest of us!" Carolina growled. "Trust me that is a VERY unlikely probability." Colorado said simply before turning and grabbing a trey, which he piled high with as much food as he thought he could possibly fit onto the plate, so much so that the marines were staring at the vast quantity. He walked away and sat down with the other agents, sitting next to North and across from Wash. "Why were they yelling at you? Do you enjoy making girls mad?" York asked. "They were mad I jumped from the catwalk in the other room. And no, I'm just not really used to working with girls." He said, before starting to shove food into his mouth. "You did WHAT!?" Wash yelled, spitting a bite of his burger out in shock. Colorado stared at Wash, before stating simply, "You are very lucky that didn't land in my food."

"You have enough food there to have leftovers. It's not that big a deal." Wash responded. Colorado shook his head and went to eating his food in silence as the other agents talked and joked, with the girls coming and joining them eventually. Colorado, to the shock, amusement, and horror, of the others managed to finish off his entire plate in the same amount of time as the others managed to finish their meals. He looked up from his empty plate to see everyone staring at him. "Is there something on my face?" he asked. "You finished more food just now than I have ever been able to eat in a day." York said. "Are you even human?" C.T. asked playfully. "Yes I'm human! I'm used to eating when I can, and I'm not used to getting this good of food. Usually it's just crappy MREs." He chuckled in response. "Next time, we have to make sure to get here before he does. I highly doubt anything good will be left after he eats anymore." Tex whispered to C.T. "Alright, well I'm going to go catch some zs. Didn't get much sleep on the last ship; can't sleep around those spooks." Colorado said with a slight shiver. He walked out of the mess hall, rubbing his temples in discomfort.

"Well I guess he seems nice enough a person. I just wonder how good he will be in training tomorrow." Carolina asked the others. "I'm betting he'll be at least decent. Definitely better than Wash." York remarked. "What the hell York?" Wash said angrily. "Oh please lad. Everyone knows you're the worst of the bunch here." Wyoming said, sipping a cup of tea.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews =D tried cleaning it up a bit, let me know if this reads better. and now, onto the third chapter!**

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Colorado woke up in a cold sweat, the sheet tied around him as if he had been thrashing in his sleep. "Nightmares still?" Scythe asked.

The AI appeared out of thin air standing on the bedside table. "Yeah. Do you think they'll ever stop?" Colorado asked, untangling himself from the sheet.

"I cannot be certain. There's no known precedent of the events that caused them, so there's no knowing anything about them." Scythe responded.

Colorado scowled at the response, before throwing on some clothes and heading to the locker room to change into his armor. He was the first one there, and was walking out the door as Maine and Wash were walking up. "Nice armor! Though the horn on the helm is a little much." Wash joked.

"Say what you want, but just imagine how much a head-butt is going to hurt." Colorado countered, leaving Wash speechless and Maine laughing.

Colorado made his way to the mess hall, knowing the call for breakfast would be soon. Sure enough, F.L.I.S.S. called out over the intercom and he was already waiting in line. He filled a plate with some food, before grabbing a glass of orange juice and sitting down at the same table from the night before. "Crap! He beat us here!" York exclaimed, looking to see if all the good food was gone.

Luckily, Colorado had only decided to eat light this meal, so there was plenty of food left. York sat down across from Colorado, smiling. "Good morning! Did you sleep alright?" He asked.

"Eh, no better or worse than I have lately." Colorado responded.

"Oh, why's that?" York wondered as Maine, Wash, and North sat down to join them, all with steaming cups of coffee.

"Just unlucky I guess." Colorado yawned out. He started shoveling some food into his mouth as the others traded greetings.

"Maybe you'd be more awake if you drank some coffee." York told him as he yawned again. Colorado shook his head, saying, "No way. I can't stand the taste of it." All the other agents stared at him in shock, with Wash even going so far as bringing his coffee closer to him, as if to protect it.

"Why does Wash look like he's about to cry? And why is he hugging his coffee?" Tex asked as the female agents, excluding South, sat down at the table.

"The new guy says he can't stand coffee." North explained. The girls responded with laughs and shakes of their heads. Colorado quickly finished his food, and told the others he would see them in training.

A while later all the Freelancers were assembled in the viewing room above the training room, waiting for The Director. The older man entered the room, and immediately the agents snapped to attention.

"Today, we will be seeing just what agent Colorado is capable of. Colorado, pick three agents to make up your opposition." The director drawled. Colorado turned to look at the others. He carefully inspected them, before finally deciding.

"Agents Carolina, Maine, and Wyoming." He said, and the three went down to the training room floor.

"Colorado, would you please leave your AI up here with us?" The Director said as Colorado started to follow the others.

"Sure." He said, pulling Scythe from behind him and putting the cartridge into a console. Immediately the small hologram of the AI, a scale image of Colorado in his armor, appeared.

"Well this should be interesting." Scythe said.

Down on the training room floor, Colorado was standing across the room from the other three agents.

"Round one: Hand to Hand combat." F.L.I.S.S. said. Carolina instantly led the charge against him, the other two agents hot on her heels. Colorado dove to the side, easily dodging the charge. He charged up behind the group and landed six rapid hits into Wyoming's back, before throwing a roundhouse kick to send the white armored freelancer flying across the room. Maine and Carolina turned and charged at him again. Carolina launched into a series of rapid kicks and punches. Colorado backed up, blocking and dodging all of the attacks. Carolina threw another punch. Colorado sidestepped, grabbing her wrist and elbow and forcing her momentum to carry her down to the ground. He turned just in time to see Maine coming towards him. Maine tackled him, lifting the larger agent off his feet and knocking him to the ground. Colorado pulled his legs up to his chest and kicked, forcing Maine to fly off of him. He performed a quick pop up, and walked over to Maine. He quickly threw his leg into the air and brought it down in an axe kick to Maine's stomach. The freelancer let out a winded groan from the impact.

"Round over. Point, Colorado." F.L.I.S.S. declared. "Next round, Lockdown paint." She added. Stone slabs started to slide out of the ground as Colorado approached one of the weapons tables and loaded a magnum; across the room Maine, Wyoming, and Carolina were doing the same. Colorado took cover behind a pillar as the round started. He could tell from the muffled whispers and shuffling feet that the three were splitting up, two taking the outsides of the arena and one coming down the center.

"Good plan." He chuckled before spinning out and charging forward, shooting five rounds. Three of them landed, two to the chest and one to the head, and Carolina fell over backwards. He dove into cover as Maine appeared, shooting several of his own rounds. One of them hit Colorado in his left thigh, but he managed to keep walking with the locked up armor. He slipped behind a pillar, and heard a voice from the other side.

"Knock knock." The voice said. Colorado slipped behind him.

"Who's there?" He asked. The white armored brit didn't turn to look behind him, just said, "It's Wyoming! …wait a minute…" He muttered. Colorado smirked behind the red visor, before he shot three rounds into Wyoming's back. Colorado turned and walked out into a clear pathway, slightly limping from the locked up armor. Maine was across the way, and both raised their guns and fired. Colorado spun and dropped to one knee, dodging the paint rounds. Maine wasn't so lucky. His entire body was quickly covered in the pink paint, and he fell over.

"Round over. Point, Colorado." F.L.I.S.S. declared. Technicians came onto the floor and started to remove the lockup paint.

Up in the viewing room all the agents were watching the display.

"I wish Maine and Wyoming had bothered trying to strategize when we went up against Tex." York said as he removed his helmet.

"Maybe that's why they're doing it now." C.T. thought aloud.

"Even with them strategizing he's still destroying them." Tex pointed out as the second paint round ended with Colorado winning again.

"He's holding back." Scythe noted aloud to himself.

"Director, what can you tell us about him?" Wash asked. The older man adjusted his glasses and smirked.

"I can only say it took a lot of effort to get him here. Anything else you're going to have to get from him or his AI." He responded, before walking out of the room. The whole room traded looks, before North asked, "Hey, Scythe is it? Anything you can tell us about your friend." The AI turned to look at the expectant faces. "It's not my place to say what program he was in before, or anything else for that matter." Scythe said.

"What program was he in before? And how the hell is he so good?" South asked, her voice dripping with anger.

"You'll have to ask him that." Scythe responded simply, before turning back to watch the training room floor. The sixth round was about to start, with Colorado laying claim to all of the points so far.

Later that afternoon, the agents were all in the locker room, showering from the long training sessions and getting out of their armors. Colorado had managed to win all the rounds he had been involved in. Now he was sitting on the bench in front of his locker, organizing his armor. He was sitting there in just his jeans, as York walked in and looked over at him.

"Holy hell! What are all those? Are those plasma burns?" He asked, seeing the scars on Colorado's back. Colorado quickly pulled a shirt on and closed his locker.

"No, I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered, before storming out of the locker room.

"What's wrong with him?" Tex asked as she walked in, having heard the locker slamming.

"I don't know. I just asked him about some burn scars that were on his back and looked like plasma burns. Then he slammed his locker shut and stormed off acting like I was crazy." York answered. After looking at the door for a few seconds, he returned to changing before the horde of the others came and crowded up the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay! here's chapter 4! hope you all like, and enjoy!**

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Agent Colorado was in bay seven, a small piece of machinery on a table he was intently working on. He growled in frustration after another failed attempt at bringing the machine online.

"Scythe, run diagnostics and figure out why the hell this piece of crap won't work." He snarled out before storming out the door. "Yes, because I'm entirely capable of figuring out how to make a machine we have no idea the purpose for work." The AI called after him sarcastically. Colorado walked into the training room to see York and Wash on the floor sparring with C.T. and South in the viewing room gossiping.

"I heard The Director is actually going to give us three days off! Apparently he has to attend some meetings on Earth for them, and wants us well rested since he has a very important mission for us all after he gets back!" C.T. giggled happily.

"Wonder who will get sent into the field." South wondered. Colorado walked up to them and leaned against the controls.

"Something that big implies all of us." He said. He ignored the angry glare South gave him, since the others said that was just something she did. There was a loud thud from the training room below them; York and Wash had slammed each other into a wall and were now on the ground wrestling and trying to put each other into submission holds.

"York's going for an Americana. Think Wash will be able to escape it?" He asked the girls. They both let out loud guffaws as their answers, and sure enough soon F.L.I.S.S. was declaring York as the victor.

"Agents New York, Carolina, and Texas please report to the debriefing room." F.L.I.S.S. added. York jogged off and Wash walked up to the viewing room with Colorado as C.T. and South went down for their own sparring mach.

"Ten bucks that South wins." Colorado stated without looking up from the starting fight.

"You're on." Wash chuckled.

"Carolina, I expect you to make sure all agents put in at least one hour of training tomorrow and the following two days while I'm gone. Texas, I want you to perform an extra hour training on top of that with Colorado as well." The Director finished a speech to the three of them before walking out.

"Why did he call me here if he wasn't going to tell me anything?" York asked the girls.

"I'm not saying The Director is upset with agent Colorado's attitude, and I'm not saying that while he's gone he might be leaving a memory drive of agent Colorado's personnel file out in the open on his desk in his locked office. I'm also not saying that he would punish anyone for causing said copy to go missing. But if I WAS saying that, it might be The Director's way of trying to answer some of your questions about him without The Director violating an agreement, which I'm also not saying exists." The Councilor said with a smile before leaving.

"Did he just tell us that The Director wants us to break into his office while he's gone and steal something?" York asked. He was trying to figure out if this was some cruel joke being played on their curiosity about their new teammates secretive past.

"I'm not saying he didn't say that." Carolina said with a smirk as she shook her head the affirmative.

"Why are you talking like that now too!? Can't people just say what they're trying to say without masking it?" York whined.

"It's kind of fun." Carolina laughed, before adding, "They even told us the perfect time to do it too. While Tex and Colorado are training on their own. Then we can all read the file in the classroom while he's sleeping or in bay 7. York, you let everyone know that tomorrow we will all be getting some answers about our new friend. Just make sure HE doesn't figure it out, blabbermouth. And don't let them know we will be breaking into The Director's office to get the information."

"Can I at least tell-"York started, before Tex interrupted him.

"No, you cannot tell your buddy North. Just because the two of you are best friends doesn't mean he can keep a secret. He'll tell South, and then she will gossip with C.T., who will tell Wash and Wyoming, and those two are the worst secret keeping ass-hats on the ship." She growled. Carolina let out a rare laugh at the words spoken by Tex, whom she hated but still enjoyed her no bullshit words.

"Fine! You're going to break into The Director's office with me though, Carolina. I'm not going in there alone." York pouted. Both the female agents laughed at him and walked out the door together. In the hall they both realized the fact they had just been getting along, and both traded angry insults before storming off in different directions.

"…Women…" York mumbled shaking his head before walking off to spread what information the two female agents had cleared him to share.

He wandered the ship for two hours before finally finding everyone in the mess hall.

"Hey guys and gals. Where's our giant friend?" York asked as he sat down. Maine let out a small growl in between bites and gave him a look that could be translated into meaning "I'm right here dipshit."

"Not you Maine. The bigger one." York sighed.

"He walked out complaining about a headache and said he was going to try and get some sleep. Didn't even finish his food. Said he would catch up with us in the rec room later." Wash answered.

"Great! I've got awesome news. Tomorrow, we will finally get to know about him!" York said excitedly. North had just started to swallow a bite of food, and wound up choking as he swallowed wrong from the news.

"How? He always brushes our questions off or storms away when we ask him anything." C.T. stated as Maine slapped North on the back to stop his choking.

"Thanks." The blonde gasped out.

"I can't say yet. Just no one let him know. It's a secret!" York gave his trademark smile before going and grabbing himself some food and sitting back down to eat. He had to work extremely hard to ignore all his friends' questions as they asked what he was up to. They finally dropped the endeavor, and eventually the whole group found themselves relaxing in the lounge. They decided on watching a marathon of horror movies that was being broadcasted from Earth. The first two movies were complete jokes, causing the entire room to guffaw at the shoddily done movies. Then suddenly the third one came on and within fifteen minutes it had them all quivering in fear. In one scene a girl was attacked by giant spiders, which caused Colorado to yell and dive behind a couch, covering his ears and muttering incoherent noises; as Wash tried to hide himself in the person he was sitting with. Unfortunately for him, that was Tex, who grabbed his shirt and tossed him out the door with a growled insult.

"Scared of a spider there Colorado?" She teased the agent behind the couch. "Very bad experience in training. Eight legged freaks should be purged from every damn world. And that's all I have to say on the subject." He answered with a shiver before coming back out from behind the couch.

After the three movies finished, the group all went to their rooms, each teasing each other about the nightmares they would be experiencing that night, none of them wanting to admit that they would likely being getting very little sleep.

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**I'll be sure to have chapter 5 (and most likely 6) in the next 24 hours. Hooray over abundance of free time! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Heres chapter 5! I really enjoyed this. was tons of fun to write. tell me what you all think!**

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The freelancers sat at their table, for once the full ten of them there for once, all exhausted and miserable.

"Whoever decided watching horror movies was a good idea, I hate you. I really and truly hate you." Carolina groaned into her coffee.

"Stop talking!" South seethed; She was suffering from a severe headache from the lack of sleep.

"Why must coffee taste so horrible!?" Colorado whined, pushing his food around on his plate.

"Try some of the tea chap. Much better tasting and healthier." Wyoming suggested as he sipped his own cup of tea. Colorado looked over to the counter where the tea would be dispensed. He decided he was too tired to make the trek, and instead tried to eat some of the food on his plate. He honestly had no idea what it was. When he had gotten the plate he was too exhausted to pay attention to what he had been serving himself, and now he had mixed it up so much it was impossible to distinguish what the food had been before. All of a sudden there was a loud thud, and they all looked over to see that Wash had fallen asleep and his head had fallen onto his plate of syrup covered pancakes.

"I'm too tired to laugh." York said.

"What's worse is The Director expects us each to spend at least one hour training every day while he's planet side. And Colorado and Tex get the added joy of an extra hour together every day." Carolina said. Her words brought groans from the entire table, which woke Wash from his slumber in his food.

"Son of a bitch!" he muttered.

After they all finally managed to finish eating, and wake up a little bit more, they all decided to get training out of the way and free up their days. They were all assembled and armored up in the viewing room, trying to decide the best way to get through the training as fast as possible.

"Let's just split into two teams of five, and do lock up paint for an hour. That way we can spend most of the training session sleeping in our armor while techs get the paint off us." Wash suggested.

"Brilliant! Give that man a medal." York called out. The entire room agreed it was a good plan, and started trying to decide how to split up. They finally decided to split up alphabetically. Carolina, Colorado, C.T., Maine, and York against the twins, Tex, Wash, and Wyoming. The training session went by all too slowly, but eventually ended.

"Freedom! I'm going to bed." C.T. declared after they had finished. She led the way out of the training room, everyone but Colorado and Tex following her out the door.

"Want to continue the same strategy? Try to burn as much of the clock with the paint?" Colorado asked. Tex cracked her neck and gave a scary laugh as the round started.

York and Carolina veered off from the rest of the group, sneaking through the halls till they were standing in front of the door to The Director's office.

"Are you sure we should do this?" York asked. He was mentally prepping himself to break one of the few locks on the ship he was actually terrified enough to not try breaking.

"Yes, York. Just open the damn door. I'll even go in and grab the memory drive." Carolina rolled her eyes. That was the third time she had to answer that question since they had broken away from the others. The male freelancer took a deep breath before setting into breaking the lock. It opened quite easily; in fact, he was pretty sure The Director had specifically made it easier for him to break for this task. Carolina waltzed into the room, and quickly grabbed the only thing that was on The Director's desk, before quickly walking back out.

"Lock it!" She hissed at York as she stepped out. They quickly covered their tracks and rushed to the locker room to change out of their armor. They arrived just in time to see the others leaving.

"Where did you two sneak off too?" North asked suspiciously.

"Just getting a very important thing for our little group meeting tonight." Carolina smirked as she walked past the blonde man. He looked quizzically at York, who just shrugged and followed the redhead into the locker room.

The original nine freelancers sat around the classroom in their casual day clothes. They had all just finished eating dinner after what they would all agree were wonderful naps. Colorado had excused himself after dinner, saying he had some work he needed to get done and walked off in the direction of bay 7.

"Ladies. Gentlemen. Wyoming." York started, pausing for the indignant cry from the man cradling a cup of tea. "We give to you. The personnel file of one agent Colorado!" York finished, opening the digital folder on the main screen.

From the Notes of Dr. Halsey:

Spartan II subjects have been here for almost a year. Five of the children have especially intrigued me with their actions during training. Kelly-087, Samuel-034, John-117, Kale-288, and Linda-058.

Message from Dr. Halsey:

Subject 288 has proven to be one of the greatest of the subjects post augmentation. His combat abilities rival those of all my top subjects in the program. However, he has displayed that he is far more independent than all other subjects. At times he appears out right rebellious. Subject shows that he is more than willing to follow orders, but has gone against orders in training simulations when he believed the orders to be immoral or bring unnecessary harm to innocents.

Opsilan system incident report:

During the battle for Opsilan III, Spartan 288 and a squad of marines boarded a covenant carrier. The marines were killed in taking the ship, but Spartan 288 was able to take the bridge. Spartan was ordered to crash the covenant ship into the planets moon. Spartan refused, and instead initiated a delayed self-destruct command on the ship. The explosion destroyed any useful tech that could have been acquired from the ship. Spartan 288 states that he would not crash the ship into the moon, and hopeful cause some tech to be salvageable, because there were several smaller ships from evacuating civilians from the planet's surface that would have been destroyed.

Trial of Spartan 288:

Spartan 288 was sentenced to indefinite cryogenic stasis for mutiny during the battle for Opsilan III. A group of six other Spartans were needed to force him into stasis pod. Four techs involved were left injured with multiple broken bones. Stasis pod was placed onto the prowler _The Caribbean._

Abduction of _the Caribbean_ crew:

_The Caribbean _was found damaged and incapacitated in space. Some of the crew was dead on board, injuries indicate plasma weapons. Stasis pod containing Spartan 288 and most of the crew missing. Unusual circumstances, since the Covenant have established that they do not take prisoners.

Recovery:

Spartan 288 and a small group of surviving crew from _The Caribbean_ were recovered. Their reports state that they were abducted by a small radical sect within the Covenant, who were experimenting with a Forerunner relic to try to turn people into their gods. The only person to survive those experiments was Spartan 288. He suffered severe plasma burns and his armor was irreparably damaged. He is also now reporting severe headaches, nightmares from the experiments, as well as random moments where he can feel the memories of a long dead Forerunner. Several of these memories have helped advance our tech and will most likely aid in the war. Spartan 288 states that the Covenant were also experimenting on their own races, along with himself and some of the other crew. The relic they used on him and the other test subjects was recovered. Has been handed over to research teams for study. The AI, Scythe, also managed to survive. No signs of rampancy from being frozen for five years.

Fervirnos Incident report:

Spartan 288 was deployed against the Covenant on Fervirnos. Unfortunately, he froze in the presence of Covenant forces, and suffered from severe mental pain in their presence. Until further notice he is unable to be deployed against The Covenant.

Transferal:

After several departments and programs bickering to have Spartan 288 join them, UNSC central command has decided to assign him to the Freelancer Program. There he will help the program fight the insurrection, and aboard _The Mother of Invention _he will have a work station for more forerunner tech to be tested in their program and then given to command to be replicated and deployed in the war effort. As part of the agreement, Project Freelancer will not openly share 288's history with its agents, and will not force him to combat Covenant forces.

The freelancers all read through the files, staring in shock at the information overload.

"…Where did you find these files?" North asked as several image files started to slowly flow across the screen. They showed children training at a military base. Then in a surgical bay where there was a sudden change. The picture showed a child and then a fully grown adult, someone who looked to be a nineteen year old Olympic athlete. It showed him in olive green mjolnir armor, fighting the covenant. Then being forced into a cryogenic pod. And the last few pictures showed several plasma burns and cuts all over his body.

"Those look really painful." C.T. gasped.

"We… borrowed these from The Director's office." Carolina said flatly. The other agents in the room went from displaying faces of emotionless shock to horror.

"You…did WHAT!?" South screeched.

"Don't worry we will put it back. And he'll have no idea we took it." York said, turning to look at the frozen picture displaying the torture wounds.

"I guess those really were plasma burns." He added to himself.

"So now that we KNOW all this, what do we do with the information?" Tex asked. She was leaned against a wall by the door, arms crossed and no expression visible.

"I honestly don't know…" Carolina whispered.

"I honestly don't know…"

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**And thus ends chapter 5! and a partial history of Agent Colorado has been uncovered! what do you think will happen now? and don't worry, ive got TONS more surprises planned for the future. Also, I hope those of you who are fans of the Halo books enjoyed my little easter eggs there! =D**


	6. Chapter 6

York pulled the memory drive and deleted the information from the room.

"Whatever we do about this, needs to be subtle. He won't appreciate us stealing his file and reading up on his history." North stated, the silence finally broken.

"Agreed. You guys figure that out, I'll go put this guy back." York said. He waved the memory drive in the air before heading for the door. The rest of the group's voices echoed out into the hall after him as he walked off.

They eventually moved their discussion into the rec room, where they all sat thinking about what they had learned about their newest comrade, and watching random television being broadcast from the nearby Earth. Their conversation quickly tapered off as Colorado walked into the room with a loud yawn, before he collapsed onto an empty recliner.

"Hey, uh, Colorado. You've got a little something on your cheek. And your forehead. And your nose." Wash pointed out. Everyone's heads turned to look at him, and laughed at his soot covered face.

"What happened?" North asked while still laughing. Colorado shook his head and brushed the soot off his face with his shirt. "Something decided it wanted to explode in front of me rather than work properly." Colorado laughed. They all turned their head to the T.V. which was playing some ridiculous sitcom. Suddenly the broadcast switch to a news update, informing them of a planet currently being evacuated and the battle going on there. There was a brief shot of a Spartan in the field, and then the station returned to the sitcom. The group casually turned to look at Colorado, who was shifting uneasily in his seat.

"So what's it like, being one of them?" Tex asked from where she was; leaning against a wall towards the back of the room. The others all shot her angry glares as Colorado turned and looked at her like she had suddenly grown an extra head.

"What're you talking about?" He asked nervously.

"Don't try and play stupid. We read your damn personnel file." She said to gasps from the room.

"You did WHAT!?" Colorado yelled, jumping up and staring at the faces around the room. His expression was murderous. "How the hell did you do that?" He snarled.

"We broke into the files and read it." York admitted in an ashamed manner, dropping his head.

"You were just so secretive about everything. And you never let us really ask any questions about you, you always get upset and storm off. We just were trying to learn about who you are." C.T. tried explaining.

"Well now you know." Colorado glared, storming out the door.

"What the fuck Tex? That wasn't subtle at all!" Carolina growled.

"I decided it was better to just yank the Band-Aid right off. He'll go and pout for a while and then we'll see him again and he'll put a bit more, and then he'll open up and we'll all become best of friends!" Tex said, sarcasm dripping from her voice before she stalked out.

"Well that went pretty poorly." North remarked.

Wash woke up late that night and couldn't manage to get back to sleep. He decided to do some night wandering and ended up in the training room viewing center. He looked down to see a simulation going on; Colorado was going against six automated drones in a round of lockup paint. He was angrily stalking the machines, and would pop out behind one before either immobilizing it with his gun or ripping parts off of it. Wash watched as he tore apart the last of the drones, before demanding more be sent out to challenge him.

"Hey Wash, you couldn't sleep either?" North asked as he walked into the room and saw his friend.

"Nope, went for a walk and wound up here. He's pretty damn good. You think he'll get over the thing and try to join in with the rest of us now?" Wash asked. North shrugged.

"I don't know. Probably, eventually. Might be a mission or two. Nothing like a near death experience to make people come together." The tall blonde responded. Wash laughed.

"Ain't that the truth?" He muttered, thinking of his first mission, where he and Maine had gone from two agents to best of friends.

"We should probably get out of here and get back to bed. God knows how mad he might get if he sees us watching him blowing off some steam." North stated. Then he turned around and led the way back to the dorm hallway; the muffled sounds of paint gun fire echoing through the empty halls in the night.

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**Sorry if this ones a wee bit short. and isnt the best written. I really wanted to get this up before going to bed, which I will be doing very shortly. hooray messed up sleeping schedule! hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter number 7! please review with your opinions and ideas you'd like to see incorporated! even constructive criticism! thanks!**

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The next morning the freelancers were all seated in silence at their table, each occasionally stealing glances across the room to where an exhausted Colorado was sitting by himself.

"We should go say something. Apologize or something." C.T. whispered.

"No way! I saw him in the training room last night, he was literally ripping apart training drones. I enjoy having my arms." Wash whispered back. North nodded his agreement.

"You men are such babies." Carolina said as she stood up with her tray. She confidently walked over to the empty table where Colorado was and sat down. The angry and exhausted freelancer glared at her before returning to eating his food in silence.

"Look, we are sorry we read your personnel file. It was wrong. But in our defense you were very secretive about the shit, and why you have a whole damn private bay to work in. Plus, no offense, but you're pretty much the most socially sheltered and awkward person any of us have ever met. And we've ALL met Wash." She said to him. Colorado looked up from his food with a softer expression on his face, though it was still covered in anger.

"I get that. But I was keeping in a secret for a reason. I wanted to work without all the crap in that file causing problems." He responded.

"Well, we only read the file. Other peoples take. Not yours. You can always tell us your half too. Hell, maybe it'll make you feel better about the whole thing." Carolina stood back up and returned to the table with all the others. When she was gone a small holographic image appeared.

"She is right. There is a chance talking about your problems could help. Several studies have shown traumatic experiences like the ones you-"He started.

"Scythe, I don't want to hear it. Don't you have tests to be running?" Colorado interrupted the AI.

"The device has been rendered inoperable. No further tests can be performed until you perform the necessary repairs." Scythe stated before disappearing.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Colorado said with a loud sigh.

After breakfast the ten of them changed into their armor and walked onto the training room floor as the stone pillars started to slide out of the ground.

"What do you guys say we make this more interesting? A full out free for all brawl." Colorado asked while sliding a clip into his magnum.

"What'd be the reward for winning?" Maine growled.

"The satisfaction that you're the best." Carolina sneered. The whole group agreed and quickly fanned out in the maze of pillars as F.L.I.S.S. called out the start of the match. Colorado sprinted from the outer edge into the center where several people were shooting. He dropped to the ground and slid across the floor, shooting Wyoming's feet as he slid past. The British freelancer let out a curse as he was suddenly coated in paint pellets from C.T., who ended up eliminated buy Colorado seconds later. There were a few shots fired across the room and Colorado heard the angry yells of South echo.

"That's total bull shit! Fuck you North!" Colorado laughed to himself at the girl's anger. He started stalking after two figures moving through the pillars. He watched from a discreet distance and cover as Wash and York worked together to eliminate Maine, and then North as he rounded the wrong corner at the wrong time. There were more shots in the distance followed by a growl from Carolina.

"Get back here Tex!" She screamed. Colorado ran up to the distracted pair of freelancers in front of him, flipping over York and firing three shots into Wash at point blank range. The three hit him in the worst possible place, and he fell over with a high pitched "why!?" Colorado kicked out and knocked York's pistol away. York pushed forward into him and tried to pry his gun out of his hands. Colorado wrapped his arm around the Tan armored freelancer's neck and jumped up and flipped over York's back, using his moment to send York flying into a pillar. The rock exploded from the impact and York collapsed on the ground leaned against the pillar behind it. Colorado casually walked past and shot him in the head.

"Three agents left. Opening weapons caches." F.L.I.S.S. called out. Colorado watched as a floor panel slid away and a container was revealed, housing two SMG's and an assortment of paint grenades and flash-bangs. He gladly clipping the two SMG's to his legs and took the grenades before he stalked after the other two remaining agents.

There was a click from behind him and he spun and shot. His paint round collided with the one that Tex had fired, causing the hardening blob of paint to crash to the ground.

"You've got to be kidding." Tex said angrily. Colorado just laughed and fired again, his round clogging the pistol in the black freelancer's hand. She charged forward and tore the pistol from his own hand, before the two started a match of hand to hand combat. Colorado threw a punch, which Tex grabbed and held under one of her arms. She went to throw a punch with her free hand, but Colorado caught it the same way she had done to him.

"Got you both now!" a voice yelled. Colorado and Tex both looked to see Carolina holding a modified rocket launcher with an explosive paint round.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Colorado said. The two of them jumped back, and Colorado reached for the SMG on his left hip. He emptied the whole clip, which coated Carolina's rocket launcher just as she pulled the trigger. The rocket exploded, covering her in paint and immobilizing her. Colorado turned back just in time to see Tex holding his other SMG right to his face. There was a purple flash and suddenly he couldn't move and couldn't see anything but the pink.

"Round over. Texas wins." F.L.I.S.S. called out.

Colorado was sitting in front of a table working on the same device he had been for the past few days, though his head wasn't really in it. He was thinking about the training match early that day, and what both Carolina and Scythe and told him during breakfast.

"Power levels indicate that it is functioning again, at higher levels than before." Scythe observed after Colorado had attached a new wire inside the device.

"Run the tests on it. I'm going to go get some sleep." He ordered the AI before retiring for the night. He sat on his bed and was just about to fall asleep when a southern drawl called out over the intercom system.

"Agents Carolina, Washington, Maine, New York, North Dakota, Wyoming, Connecticut, and Colorado, report to the briefing room at 0800 tomorrow morning. That will be all."

Colorado sighed. It looked like their supposed third day off wasn't going to be happening after all.

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**Again, please review! hope you enjoyed the latest chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's chapter 8! Enjoy!**

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Colorado stood in the debriefing room with the others as The Director explained the mission.

"As the number one on this mission, Carolina will be leading from the field." He drawled. Carolina typed in a command on a key pad and the table displayed a holographic image of a city appeared.

"There's suspected insurrection activity in this area. Our Intel suggests that members of the UNSC loyal to the insurrection have acquired a high level asset and are holding it in this 110 story building, in the middle of the urban environment." She started.

"What does security look like?" Wyoming asked.

"…They have enough troops to fill a ten story building."

"So, that's a lot of security."

"We're up to it. Our job is to enter the building and work our way up to the room where the sarcophagus is being held, and secure it." Carolina continued.

"The sarcophagus?" North asked.

"That is what we are calling the primary objective." The director answered.

"But since this is a high level asset we need to access a key code to open the sarcophagus." Carolina continued again.

"I'm guessing they don't just keep that taped to the side." Wash joked.

"It's held by an official of the program who will be moving in a vehicle along the freeway between inspections. That's when we will hit the facility. We need to acquire both targets within minutes of each other. If we fail that the remaining target will go into lockdown."

"So that means two teams." Wash stated. Colorado rolled his eyes at the obviousness of the statement. Carolina just simply continued on, "Two teams. Team A will consist of me, Wash, Maine, and York. We will work infiltration on the storage facility. Team B will be North, Colorado, Wyoming, and C.T. You will act as recon for team A and once we enter the building you will disengage to attack the target on the freeway. North will lead team B."

"Got it." North said.

"Team B should be simple, stop the vehicle and grab the case. Team A will have more of a challenge, namely the sarcophagus is an unknown." Carolina kept on rolling with the briefing.

"How unknown are we talking?" Wash asked. Colorado was getting annoyed with all the questions; he was itching to get into real combat again. The last time he had tried real combat he had frozen up against the Covenant, he was eager to get in the field and prove himself to project Freelancer.

"Unknown in that we don't know its size, weight, or dimensions. We just know it will have these markings somewhere on the exterior. We have a job to do people. Let's do it right and come home safe." Carolina finished.

"That is all. You are dismissed!" The Director said. The group all walked out and down to the armory to gather their gear. Colorado veered off into his bay and approached the work table with the small device he had been working on.

"Is it online?" He asked Scythe.

"Technically, yes. However it has yet to pass the tests and perform." The AI responded. Colorado grabbed the device and installed it into his armor.

"It's not ready for field testing! The last time we tried using it you were thrown halfway across the room!" Scythe said angrily.

"Yeah but it worked for a second before that." Colorado grabbed the AI from its terminal and inserted it into his suite.

"This is going to end horribly. Don't do it." Scythe continued. Colorado chose not to answer and walked out of the bay, grabbing his favorite battle rifle and pistol off their table as he walked past.

"Where'd you wander off to?" North asked as he jogged onto team B's pelican.

"Sorry, needed to get my guns and Scythe." Colorado said. He quickly sat down next to North and secured his harness. There was a loud clunk and the feeling of losing his stomach, and then they were off, away from _The Mother of Invention _and propelling down to the planet side.

"Can I ask you something?" North asked quietly. Colorado turned his head to look over at the purple and green armored man.

"Might as well. I can't exactly stop you."

"Your file said something about you having been in training for a year. But it said 'children' specifically. What did that mean? Everyone knows you can't be drafted or enlist until you're eighteen." Colorado paused, trying to decide the best words.

"We started training when we were six, and we trained every day. Running and drills in the morning, and then classes, and then in the afternoon we ran the obstacle course. It changed every day, with only one goal. Reach the bell, make sure all three people in our team rang it, and get back to the finish line before the others. Last team to finish didn't eat." He looked at his teammates, imagining the looks of horror on their faces under their helmets at the knowledge. The same looks of horror he had seen to the few other people he had watched learn the true nature of their training.

"That's sick!" C.T. almost cried.

"It's in the past. I don't even really remember anything before it. Maybe a face, but that's it. I'm proud to be a soldier." He started to clean his rifle to help kill the time before they hit ground side for the mission.

Their pelican dropped them off on an abandoned strip of highway and they started jogging along.

"This feels…wrong." C.T. said. The others all looked around, investigating the empty cars strewn about the highway.

"Scythe, can you detect anything?" Colorado asked after being ordered by North to fall back as rear guard.

"No. I can't detect crap. The device is screwing with all the suits' readings." Colorado ignored the attitude and kept his guard up.

"Contact! It's an ambush!" He heard the accented voice of Wyoming crackle over his come. Suddenly the empty highway was full of soldiers and gun fire. Colorado sprinted forward, ducking behind cars and shooting as he advanced. Soon he was crouched behind a large car next to C.T., with North and Wyoming behind another car on the other side of a five foot gap that was being filled with the bullets from multiple warthogs.

"Cover me!" North called. Colorado nodded and sprinted in the other direction into the open. He shot one of the soldiers next to a warthog, but unfortunately missed one of the turret gunners. The insurrectionists all turned and started shooting at him. He dove behind a car just before his armor's shields wound up completely empty. North spun out from behind his cover and dropped the two men on the turrets, before killing two carrying assault rifles. He turned back behind the car to reload as bullets started flying at his location. Wyoming rolled across a small gap behind another car with no windows, and started shooting at the constantly growing mass of men converging on them. Colorado stood up and started shooting over the roof of the car he was hidden behind. Then the sounds of sirens started approach, more noise adding to the growing chorus.

"What the hell do we do about cops? They're not insurrectionists. We can't kill them!" C.T. said.

"They're already working with insurrectionists. Who do you think helped them set this ambush up?" North growled.

"Knock knock! It's a flash-bang!" Wyoming called as he tossed a grenade.

"Colorado, cover fire! Everyone else, fall back!" North yelled as the grenade went off. Colorado stood up and started shooting the exposed and disoriented men. They started firing blindly at the cars, starting several small fires and explosions. No matter how many of the men fell, they just kept coming.

"Colorado, fall back!" North called to him after they had reached a safer position. He back pedaled as he continued to fire on the men, before he had to turn around and move behind a car someone had overturned to provide better coverage.

"Wyoming! Get over here!" C.T. yelled at the man who was across an immensely large gap. "Rocket launcher! Move!" North yelled at him. The rocket hit the car Wyoming had been hiding behind just as he started running to his teammates. The explosion sent him flying, into the open ground where a new man on one of the turrets started firing at his sprawled body.

"C.T., get Wyoming!" Colorado growled as he ran out in front of the body and activated the device in his armor. A blue wall of light appeared before him, deflecting several bullets as C.T. dragged Wyoming into their cover. Colorado slowly, painstakingly slowly, walked back as his armor's energy drained.

"It's not going to hold! Cut it off now!" Scythe yelled through his helmet speakers.

"I'm almost there." Colorado growled back. There was a popping noise and the blue wall shattered, and Colorado felt the large bullets from the turret tear into his abdominal armor. The device tucked away in the armor along his back sparked and exploded, sending him flying seven feet backwards but somehow behind cover. He rolled onto his hands and knees and crawled over to wear C.T. was trying to treat Wyoming's injuries. Colorado watched as the display on his visor flickered on and off as his suite started to shut down.

"You doing ok Colorado?" C.T. asked.

"Yeah, armors getting ready to shut down." He managed to say before collapsing. He started fading in and out of consciousness, trying to stay alert.

"Team B, report, team B." Carolina's voice crackled over their radios.

"Team B is down. We have wounded and are taking fire." North responded.

"We'll be right there."

"Negative! Get the package; it's headed out of the city."

"Roger that." Carolina finished as the line went dead. North shot the fuel tank on one of the police vehicles, which set of a rather large chain reaction of explosions. The air became heated and full of the unmistakable sound of pelican engines, the drop-ship's guns easily cleaning up the area of enemies before it lowered to the ground and Wash jumped out the back.

"What the hell happened?" He asked while helping C.T. carry Wyoming onto the drop-ship, with North helping the barely conscious Colorado.

"I told you bringing it with was a bad idea." Scythe stated.

"It helped save Wyoming. I'm ok with that." Colorado whispered in response. Then he slipped into unconsciousness with a smirk plastered on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Bla bla bla, please review with what you think so far, advice, and what you want to see in coming chapters! and with that, on to chapter number 9!**

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Colorado woke lying in a small bed, his whole body sore. He opened his eyes and immediately shut them from the uncomfortable light. He groaned and heard movement in the room.

"You're awake! How do you feel?" A soft woman's voice said from beside him.

"Like I just got ran over by a mongoose. How long was I out?" He answered. His voice was slightly horse from a lack of use.

"A little under three days. Your injuries weren't too severe. A mild concussion, some burns on your back where part of your armor exploded, a fair amount of bruising. The worst damage was from the bullet wounds to your abdomen, and those have healed up pretty well. You should be a little sore, but otherwise you're perfectly fine. Just let me get some pain killers and disconnect your I.V. and you can go." The woman said. She brought him a few pills and pulled out the I.V., and he was cleared to leave. Colorado got up and started to walk out of the med bay when he noticed another person in one of the beds. Maine was unconscious, with bandages covering his neck.

"What happened to him?" He asked the woman.

"He was shot several times in the throat. He'll live, but he's still requiring a lot of attention." The woman said, before ushering Colorado out the door. He almost laughed at how it might look to someone. A petite woman that was barely five feet tall basically shoving a soldier who had almost two feet in height on her out the door. He shook his head and started wandering around the ship to find a familiar face to fill him in on the outcome of the mission. He ended up in the mess hall, where he realized he was starving. He filled up a trey and sat down next to the only other person in the room.

"Glad you're up and about." She smiled at him.

"Yeah. How's Wyoming doing?" He didn't look up from his plate.

"He's alright. He got out of the med bay yesterday. And, thanks."

"Why're you thanking me? I just did what anyone would do." He looked up from his food to see C.T. looking at him with a strange face that he had never seen before.

"Because, Reggie is very important to me. And I'm thankful you used a piece of equipment that you already knew was likely to break and probably hurt you to save him."

"How did you-"

"Scythe told us. Though we were all wondering why you were working on a device for a shield wall when we already have things like North's bubble shield." C.T. interrupted.

"The bubble shield needs an AI to help keep it running. The shield I'm working on doesn't. It's not nearly as good, but would be usable by normal ground forces. Would be a huge asset if I could get it to work." He answered. C.T. nodded an agreement and got up to leave.

"What do you mean Wyoming is very important to you? Isn't the whole team important to you?" Colorado asked before she could leave.

"We're a couple! Isn't it obvious?" She laughed.

"Oh. I don't have much experience with that kind of thing. I've lived in training and fighting." He answered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"We'll just have to fix that won't we?" C.T. said with an unusual smile as she turned and walked out.

"So, how bad was the shield unit damaged?" Colorado asked as started to inspect the remnants of his armor from the mission.

"It was melted scrap. You'll have to use the backup." Scythe said. Colorado scowled. He had just spent the past ten minutes being lectured by the AI for how stupid and arrogant he had been, and he had also lost weeks' worth of progress on the first unit. He pulled the backup out of a crate and started modifying it.

C.T. walked into the rec room where all the other freelancers were watching television, though they were only slightly paying attention.

"Hear anything about Maine or Colorado?" Wash asked eagerly as she walked in.

"Yeah, Colorado's awake. We talked for a little bit. And Maine's the same." She said as she sat down next to Wyoming, who reached an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Wash's face became crestfallen, his shoulders slumped.

"Well it's good Colorado's up." He mumbled.

"Don't worry Wash. Maine will be up and at it again any day now and you two can go back to causing havoc with the marines like you do." North assured him.

"Yeah. No way a few cheap shots are going to keep him out of the fighting for long." York chimed in. Wash nodded in agreement.

"Ok if you're going to continue with the sappy crap I'm going to go to the training room." Tex growled and slunk out of the room.

"Up for giving her some hell in training?" Carolina asked South. The blonde girl smirked and the two of them left the room to follow Tex.

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**Sorry for the short/bland chapter. I'm trying to set it up for some relationships to start taking place, though I CAN'T decide exactly who I want to pair with whom (Besides the obvious in this chapter lol :D ) anyway, lemme know what YOU want to see. Thanks!**

**P.S. Reviews are awesome! *Hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge***


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's chapter 10! I really enjoyed writting this one. Tell me what you all think about it!**

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Colorado walked out of the training room after a match with some of the marines aboard the _Mother of Invention_, and headed down to the locker room to grab a shower before dinner. He tossed his armor into his locker and went around the corner into the shower room. He relished the feel of the steaming hot water, relaxing as his muscles relaxed from their prior workout. After what could be considered a bit too long, he turned off the water, dried himself off with a towel, and walked back to his locker with the towel around his waist. He opened his locker. With the door opened, suddenly dozens of tiny spiders started flying out of the locker at him. He screamed hysterically, and started to run away from his locker room. Unfortunately he was delayed by the detonation of a flash-bang grenade, with disoriented him mid panic and he ended up running into the hardened metal wall. As the ringing started to fade from his ears, the sound was replaced by hysterical laughter. Colorado groaned as he got back up to his feet, still worrying about the spiders.

"What is happening?" He asked, getting ready to fight. He was really wishing he had his armor on still.

"Calm down dude. It's a practical joke." Wash gasped, still laughing.

"A what?" Colorado growled, still ready for a fight. He was glaring at the laughing people in the locker room.

"A practical joke. Something you do to friends when you're bored to scare, startle, or otherwise cause a bit of chaos in their lives." South explained. She had a very cruel looking snicker on her face.

"Whose idea was it to do it?" Colorado asked furiously.

"York did it. He does most of them. Though the rest of us are known to partake in the practice too when we get bored." North said. York gave his blonde friend a horrified expression for being sold out.

"You better get all those damn spiders out of my locker. And I'll be getting you back for this." Colorado smirked, watching York's horrified expression.

"You just pranked the biggest person on the ship. I think you might want to sleep with one eye open from now on." Wash whispered loudly. The crowds' heads snapped to look at him. Then he realized what he just said and who he said it to.

"Oh god, I'm sorry York! I didn't mean it like-you know I wasn't- I mean-"He stuttered.

"It's fine, Wash. No harm no foul. Colorado, the spiders are mechanical, so don't worry about it. Now get some clothes on! 479er is giving us a ride planet side and we need to be in the hanger soon." York said. Colorado tilted his head to the side questioningly. He pulled his clothes out of his locker, carefully, making sure to stay away from the robot spiders.

"Why would we be going planet side in clothes and not armor?" He wondered.

"We're going clubbing! Do you have no experience with normal socialization?" Carolina asked incredulously. Colorado scowled at her as he finished pulling the black T-shirt over his head.

"Trained and raised to be a war machine since I was six. So, no. What's clubbing?"

"Oh, right. Well clubbing is when we all go to a bar that plays loud music with dim lights and we all dance and drink and party. York's having surgery tomorrow night for an A.I. so we are going out." Carolina said. And with that the other freelancers helped her practically drag him to the pelican where 479er was already waiting.

"What took you all so long? Let's get going already!" She yelled at them. The group all climbed into the back of the drop-ship and secured their harnesses.

"I wonder if you'll have the same effect on a club that Maine does. You're bigger than him and equally socially awkward so I would think so." Wash pondered.

"He'll be just fine. He doesn't speak in grunts and hisses usually. Thanks guys for doing this. We're going to have a blast!" York jabbered on. Colorado looked around. The whole group seemed excited. All the girls were dressed up and wearing clothing that wasn't particularly modest and the guys were all wearing less worn out clothes than they usually did around the halls of the _Mother of Invention_.

Colorado stood leaned against the wall in the corner of the club, watching all the dancing people. He was slightly intrigued by them. They were all grinding their bodies against one another to the rhythm of the loud, throbbing music pulsing through the building. The noise was giving him a headache, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying it. He looked around and made note of where most of the other freelancers were. C.T. and Wyoming were dancing together, which brought him to the conclusion that you were supposed to dance with people you like or were in a relationship with. The concept seemed so foreign to him. He looked to see Carolina and South dancing together in a similar fashion as the previous two teammates he had seen. _Are they a couple too? _He wondered to himself. Tex was dancing with random people, switching partners often and not seeming to particularly discriminate against whom she was dancing with, guys or girls. York was doing similar, and their combined actions caused more confusion about his attempt at understanding the clubbing environment than actually helping him. Wash was sitting alone at a counter, downing drinks of varying colors from pointlessly small glasses. He seemed a little off balance, swaying on his stool. He looked around for North, and saw that the man was approaching him.

"You don't seem particularly enjoying yourself." He remarked.

"There are so many people and the music is so damn loud I can't think. Plus everyone keeps starring at me." Colorado responded as the two decided to sit down at a nearby table.

"In their defense, you are a bit on the big side. And people aren't used to seeing people your size. But I understand the music being too loud. I'm not a big fan of it either; I usually just come to keep an eye on my sister."

"I guess so. What's wrong with Wash? He seems a bit… off balance."

"I would think so. He's had enough tequila to be past drunk. He'll be fine tomorrow. Except for the hangover, of course." Colorado shook his head. He had no idea what seemed so appealing about that concept.

"So do you see anyone you think's attractive? Maybe you should ask someone to dance." North continued.

"What do you mean?" Now it was North's time to shake his head.

"Someone you think looks good, who you want to, get to know better or be around. If there is you should go ask them to dance with you." He explained. Colorado just laughed a little.

"I don't know. Yes? No?"

"Come on. There's got to be someone! A girl or a guy, it doesn't matter really. But you should really at least try to get out there and socialize a bit. Us explaining everything isn't going to be able to cover all social situations. You need to get out there and get some experience."

"I'll take a rain check for now."

"Whatever. We might be here for a few more hours though. At least until everyone tires themselves out." North said before getting up and walking over to join Wash at the bar. Colorado Just pushed his chair closer back towards the corner to watch everyone else for the night.

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**I really enjoyed trying to figure out how a Spartan who was raised in their military setting would feel and think about normal social conentions that wouldn't have been present in their past. This was really fun to write and think about. Hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Bla bla bla. Please review, and enjoy!**

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The freelancers were all sitting at their table eating lunch, with the exception of Maine and Wash. The latter slowly walked into the room, grabbed a trey of food, and sat down. His teammates all greeted him in a loud raucous of noise, laughing as he winced from the noise.

"Finally managing to get out of bed Wash? Isn't it against regulation to sleep so late?" C.T. laughed playfully.

"Is there any chance we can play the quite game?" He groaned out. Everyone waited a few seconds, letting the hung-over freelancer get his hopes up, before York called out in his loudest and most obnoxious voice,"I lose! Game over. Hey when you are all in training in a bit I think he should have to go up against Colorado, Tex, or Carolina as punishment for drinking too much." Wash looked at him, horrified at his idea, and he practically started crying when everyone else voiced their agreements. York used the distraction to try and grab some food from the nearest plate, but North quickly slapped his hand.

"No you don't, York. The doctors specifically said no food for you since you've got surgery later. And, knowing you would attempt to eat, we have all been informed that if you do eat we get to do complete crap missions for two weeks straight, no over-time. So no food for you." The blonde growled.

"But I'm sooo hungry! I didn't get to eat breakfast! I won't tell anyone if you don't!" York whined. North shook his head, and the girls laughed at their friend's crestfallen face.

North finished his food and excused himself, saying he'd catch the rest of the group in the locker room. York lifted his hand and started to reach for a fry on the border of Colorado's mountain of food. Without looking up Colorado casually said, "Don't touch my food. I already need to get even for your practical joke on me yesterday. Save yourself the trouble of making it worse." York dropped his hand and settled for looking longingly as the large man devoured his food.

The group made sure York arrived at the med bay without eating, to the thanks of the medical staff, and then they made their way down to the locker room, where North was already piecing his armor on. Colorado walked up to his locker and opened the door, shivering as he worried about remnants of the mechanical spiders from the previous day. He stared in shock. His locker was empty of both spiders, and his armor.

"Where the hells my armor!? How is this a funny practical joke?" He yelled, turning to look at everyone else in the room to see who took it. They all looked at him like he was crazy. He turned to see a pair of techs wheeling a cart out of the room, the horn on his helmet obviously protruding from a box.

"Where do you think you're going with my armor?" He growled, walking up to them. One of the two shrunk back, terrified of the giant man. The other glared up at him, obviously thinking he was just an oversized brute of a man.

"The Fotus class armor has been recalled. Massive security holes in the software and the shield units have started malfunctioning." The more courageous man said.

"What am I supposed to train in then?"

"Not my problem. We just got sent here to get the armor and take it back to our bosses at the manufacturer." The man pulled the cart out the door, not bothering to continue the conversation.

"Are you kidding me…" Colorado asked dumbfounded.

"They can't just leave you without any armor." North said incredulously.

"I'll have to use my crappy old armor they gave me when they decided not to freeze me again. At least till I can get something else." Colorado groaned, walking out the door and down to his bay where he kept the old armor stored in a crate. He unhappily pulled the olive green armor out of its crate and started pulling it on.

"Why're you wearing that old piece of junk?" Scythe's image popped up next to him.

"My other armor got recalled. So I'm stuck with this until we can order something new. And since this armor isn't compatible with all my tech upgrades we so painstakingly installed, you're coming with." Colorado explained, pulling the AI from a terminal and plugged it in. He felt to cold tingle as their minds melded and then he sprinted to the training room where the others were waiting.

"There you are old chap. Look just like the Spartan's on the newsfeeds!" Wyoming joked.

"Shut it. Now let's get training." Colorado growled.

"Yeah, Wash. Pick your poison." Tex sneered as she cracked her neck and knuckles.

"I say Colorado. Since he just lost the high tech armor, and has yet to get his name on the board." Wash groaned, and the two headed down to the training room floor.

"Hand to hand, lock up paint, or both?" Colorado asked.

"Paint." Colorado smirked and loaded two pistols that he clipped to his legs and then he loaded up two SMGs as the stone pillars rose out of the ground and F.L.I.S.S. called out to start the match. Colorado jumped up onto the pillars and leapt from one to another until he was right on top of Wash. He leapt around as the other agent fired at him, dodging the paint. He was toying with Wash, the others had told him all the effects of drinking too much and that Wash would be an easy opponent now. The group had all agreed to cause him as much discomfort in training as possible, and the gunfire would definitely be aggravating the hangover. Colorado released a few rounds at Wash's foot, gluing it to the ground. He grabbed Wash's other leg and pulled it up into the air, then shot and glued it to a pillar. Colorado spun and grabbed Wash's hand holding his gun and twisted it behind his back. A squeeze of the trigger and Wash's hand and gun were locked to his back.

"Why?" Wash asked pitifully. Colorado just laughed and forced Wash's hand onto his helmet. With his opponent immobilized, he carefully shot Wash's entire armor, until only his helmet's visor was uncovered.

"Just be glad you picked me over Tex and Carolina. They both had much more painful and humiliating plans for you." Colorado whispered as he leveled his SMG with Wash's visor. He squeezed the trigger and emptied the clip of the gun. There was a muffled yelp of pain from beneath the hardened pink paint, and then F.L.I.S.S. called the match. The techies started to rush out to remove the paint, but Tex and Carolina were already on the floor waiting for them.

"Leave him till tomorrows training session boys." They said. The techies nodded as they were each handed twenty dollars, and walked away. The freelancers had to bite back their laughter at Wash's muffled screams inside his paint locked suite.

"Next time, don't drink so much. Dumbass." Texas whispered as they walked out. Wash groaned inside his pink prison. It was going to be a long night.

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**Bwahahahaha. poor Washington. tell me your thoughts! all are welcome! lol**


	12. Chapter 12

**I present to you, chapter 12! please read and review, thank you!**

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"Good morning, York!" The Freelancer team all called out happily as York started to regain consciousness.

"Five more minutes, mom! Just five more minutes." He groaned, still not fully awake.

"Sorry, York! None of us are your mom. So wake up! We have something for you to see!" Carolina said cheerfully. Too cheerfully. York immediately woke up; knowing her being that happy in the morning was something to be scared of.

"It'll have to wait. I'm not supposed to be up and walking for another hour." The freelancer in sweat pants and a medical gown said. He was secretly terrified, since everyone else was in full armor.

"Wait a minute… where's Wash? And who's the big green guy?" York added.

"…my armor got recalled. So I have to use this until I can order a new suite. And unfortunately Carolina and Tex already figured out a way around the not being able to walk yet." Colorado skulked.

"Do I want to know?" York asked carefully. North and Colorado, who were standing behind Tex and Carolina, slowly shook their heads no.

"We decided we would just have our large friend carry you there." Carolina giggled. York looked at her, trying to figure out if she was joking. He quickly realized she wasn't, as she and Tex pulled Colorado in front of them.

"This is extortion…" Colorado complained.

"No, this is you ensuring you wake up with all the body parts you went to sleep with one day." Tex growled. York tried to wiggle away from the armored behemoth of a man, but was blocked on the other side of his bed by South and C.T. Colorado quickly leaned down and lifted York up into his arms.

"You're kidding, right? You're not really going to have him carry me around the ship BRIDAL style are you!?" York whined, Colorado grumbling incoherently in his helmet.

"Would you prefer over the shoulder?" Tex asked. York looked at the square protrusions of armor at the back of Colorado's shoulders. He quickly shook his head no.

"Are you at least going to buy me dinner first?" He asked the Spartan. Colorado tilted his head to the side, wondering what he was talking about. Tex and Carolina dragged him out the doorway, with C.T. explaining York's joke to the clueless Colorado as she followed closely behind. The others quickly jogged to keep up.

"Oh my god! Who is that? Is that Wash?" York asked as Colorado begrudgingly carried the unarmored freelancer onto the training room floor.

"Yeah it is!" Carolina enthused.

"Who did this magical piece of art? They deserve a medal." Carolina pointed at Colorado, who smiled proudly under his helmet.

"How long has he been in there?" York questioned.

"Since yesterday's training session. Let this be a note to all, do NOT come to training with a hangover. Colorado was much nicer about it than we would've been." Tex drawled. The pink coated mass started trying to move, grunts and groans escaping from the solid paint prison. Wyoming walked up with a pair of technicians, who looked questioningly at Carolina. The light blue/sea foam green armored woman nodded, and the two immediately went to removing the paint.

"Hey look at that, your hours up York. You can put him down now Colorado." Carolina said mischievously.

"What're you talking about, it's been ten minutes!" York whined.

"You're fine, stop being such a punk ass. You've got a match. You and North against C.T. and South." Tex snarled. Colorado gladly put York down on the ground, and walked over to Wash to accompany the now freed freelancer to the mess hall.

"Sorry, Wash. But I did you a favor. If I didn't do that Carolina and Tex had much worse plans for you." He said.

"What were their plans?"

"You do not want to know." Colorado said as he picked up the pace and walked around a corner.

"I really do though!" Wash called after him.

Colorado watched from his seat as all the others filed into the mess hall, each grabbing their treys and sitting down. Texas slid up next to him and handed him a lock up paint loaded magnum without anyone noticing. York walked up to the table excitedly, almost skipping, and set his trey down on the table.

"That was awesome! Delta made that match so much easier!" He enthused. Then the green projection of the AI appeared.

"York, Agent Colorado is about to-"He started. Colorado quickly aimed the pistol and fired repeatedly, locking York in place so he could move his body but his head was still completely exposed.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" He yelled angrily. Colorado casually went about eating his food, York glaring at him and the others glancing back and forth between the two agents, excluding Tex who was in on the plan with Colorado.

"York, doesn't this steak smell good?" Colorado asked with a smirk as he held the plate just under York's nose.

"Where the hell did you get steak!? It wasn't steak day today! And yes, it does smell good! Let me out! I want the steak!" York pleaded, fighting to get out of the armor.

"The Director has steak every day. I just had Scythe change the instructions to make two steaks. Aren't you hungry York? You haven't eaten since before we went to that club. This steak smells amazing. I think Wash wants some steak. Don't you Wash?" Colorado said mischievously, handing the steak to the eager Washington without taking his eyes off of York.

"Why are you doing this!?" York cried. His expression was that of a very sad puppy, causing C.T. to let out a loud "Awww!"

"I don't like spiders, York. You filled my locker with robot spiders. You introduced me to the world of practical jokes. I thought it would be good for my first one to be big. And vengeful."

"North! You helped him with this didn't you! I thought we were best friends! Why would you help him torture me with food? WHY!?" York whined, drooling at the sight of Wash eating the steak ravenously.

"I didn't help him I swear! You know I don't get involved in other peoples pranks. I'll join in and pull my own, but I never help people with their pranks." North said calmly, and then added, "Colorado, will you get some technicians to help get him out so he can eat? Have mercy on him." Colorado looked up from his plate with an evil grin.

"I've got something else planned for him."

The Director of project Freelancer turned from the screen he had been studying with The Councilor and let his eyes shift to his data pad as he walked through the bridge of the ship and went to walk out the door. Not particularly paying any attention to where he was going, The Director walked out the door as it slid open and ran right into an armor locked York, who had been trying to yell for help but had his mouth covered in tape.

"Councilor, remove the tape from Agent New York's mouth so he can explain why the hell he was standing outside the door for me to run into." He drawled. The councilor rushed up and pulled the tape off, ignoring York's winces of pain as it tried to pull his skin and hair with it. The moment the tape was all gone York spat out a very nasty looking sock.

"Colorado did it! He covered me in paint and tortured me with food! Then made me watch Wash eat a steak, shoved one of Wash's running socks in my mouth, taped it shut, and left me here! Please help me! I'm so hungry, sir!" York stammered.

"Councilor, give Agent Colorado some points for brilliance and ingenuity. As for you, agent, I believe you should find a way out of your predicament on your own. And keep the pranking away from me; I will trust you to take full responsibility in that regard." The Director state, walking away as York groaned. The Director let a rare smirk grace his lips. That was one good prank perfectly suited to its victim. And he had to give credit that it was amazing for the first prank of an agent who didn't even know the definition of a practical joke 72 hours ago.

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**Poor York and Wash! ok, last ful on comical/pranky chapter for a while. the next one will either be a mission or leading up to a mission for the chapter after that. Also, look who finally showed up! Hello Delta! **


	13. Chapter 13

**Bla bla. Here's chapter 13.**

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"Will you just pick a damn suit already!? I want to use the T.V!" Tex growled at Colorado. They were all sitting in the rec room, with the Spartan dominating the T.V. screen to look at available armor options to order.

"I don't want to end up with some junky armor. Calm down." Colorado sighed. The girl grumbled angrily in response. Wyoming and C.T. were cuddled together whispering to each other and laughing, with Carolina, Tex, and South playing cards on the floor. North and Wash were playing air hockey, and York was messing with a box to practice lock picking on. Every time he failed it would let out a high pitched beep and reset, causing him to groan in frustration.

"Yes! Found it. I'm getting this armor!" Colorado exclaimed loudly, startling the room into looking at the screen. It displayed a black set of armor trimmed in green, with a green visor. The description below it said it was Orbital class armor.

"Looks a bit like Maine's armor." North remarked casually.

"Barely." Wash muttered under his breath. Colorado rolled his eyes and quickly selected the order option.

"There, now the T.V. is all yours Tex." Colorado said as he flopped down onto the couch York was sitting on. Tex threw her cards and ran over to set up a video game, ignoring the loud creaking noise the couch made and York's yelp as he was tossed up an inch off the couch.

"Next time, more graceful sitting on the couch please." The freelancer teased. Colorado just glared at him until Tex threw a remote at the two of them.

"Let's get going! I need to shoot something. And if I don't shoot something on the game, I'm going to shoot one of you idiots." She growled as she handed remotes to Carolina, South, and North.

"Boys verses girls?" North asked as he sat down between Colorado and York.

"You're going down!" South sneered as the game started. From the start it was a lost cause. The three girls were the best in the room at the game, add the fact that Colorado failed miserably from inexperience and the buttons being too small and the three boys ended up being completely and utterly destroyed.

"You suck!" York said to Colorado as they started heading to the dorm hallway.

"That may be, but I can still crush you outside of our armor." Colorado stated flatly. He ignored the looks from York and North, seeing as everyone else had already hurried off to get to bed.

"I call bull shit." North declared. Colorado took the claim as a challenge and grabbed a marine's helmet off a pile of crates and dropped it on the floor. He stomped down on the helmet, which crumpled with a sickening crack.

"Shit! What the hell was that for!?" The marine yelled as York and North stared, open mouthed, at the crumpled helmet.

"Proving a point." Colorado answered the marine with a smirk before leading his stunned friends off towards the hallway where their rooms were located.

"Good night guys." Colorado said with a yawn and walked into his room, where he crashed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Colorado awoke with a groan from the vivid dream running through his head. He knew that the dream was only so vivid because it wasn't a dream. It was a forerunner memory that had clawed its way out of the darkness of his subconscious; the throbbing headache confirming it. He sprinted out the door and through the halls, going the full speed he could to get to his work bay before the memory slipped away back into the darkness. He knew the sight of a seven foot tall man running at inhuman speeds out of armor would most likely traumatize any crew walking the halls at that time in the morning, but he couldn't care less. He ran into his bay and leapt from the catwalk down to his work table where he started working on the shield unit as fast as he could.

"Finally. You haven't gotten a useful memory in a while. Just your usual crappy dreams." Scythe said sarcastically as his hologram appeared to the left of the unit.

"Shut up and open up the translator before it slips away. Enter the coordinates from the memory into it and then after they're translated enter them and see where they go." Colorado growled. The AI flashed orange for a moment in annoyance before disappearing to do as ordered. A minute or so later the AI reappeared.

"Coordinates lead to an uncharted system." He reported.

"Alright, send The Director a message that I will be coming to visit him later today. And Scythe," Colorado said.

"Yes?" The AI responded.

"Stay the hell out of my dreams."

Colorado watched the pelican from the planet landing in the main bay with a smirk. The rush shipping really was a rush. He signed the data pad for the delivery and pushed the crate holding his new armor into the locker room, where he stored the new armor in the locker with his name on it.

"Can we go talk to The Director now?" Scythe asked. Colorado sighed, but started to walk to the bridge. He entered the sliding door and walked up to The Director and The Councilor, who were talking quietly and stopped when he approached.

"Sir!" Colorado said and snapped a crisp salute.

"At ease. What was it you wished to speak to me about?" The man drawled. Colorado relaxed a little and put his hands behind his back.

"I believe I've discovered the coordinates to a Forerunner research facility. Scythe says they lead to an uncharted system. I would like to request we investigate." Colorado said. The Director scowled and thought for a few moments.

"I had planned on sending the full team on a mission to an insurrectionist base, but a Forerunner facility is very important. Have Scythe send the coordinates to F.L.I.S.S. We'll enter the system and if it's clear of hostile forces you and two other Agents can go investigate the facility, and the others will go on the insurrectionist base mission. Though that means the _Mother of Invention_ will be out of system and you will be unable to receive aid until we return." The Director said coolly, before adding, "Decide who you wish to accompany you on your mission." Colorado nodded and walked away, knowing he was being dismissed.

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**Who should accompany Colorado to the forerunner facility? And WHAT kind of enemies do you want them to face there? Let me know in some reviews! please?**


	14. Chapter 14

**New chapter! Please Read and Review! and thanks for the reviews and suggestions I have gotten already! They make me want to write more.**

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The Freelancers stood around the briefing room as The Director casually walked in.

"Agents, we are going to be running two missions here. We have reason to believe there is a Forerunner research facility in an uncharted system, where we will be arriving in approximately one hour. As the closest thing to a Forerunner expert, Agent Colorado will be leading the team there. After they are away from the _Mother of Invention_, we will be leaving the system and heading to another system to eliminate an Insurrectionist construction and training base. The second team will infiltrate the base, acquire any details from their systems, and then destroy the base. Colorado, have you decided who will be accompanying you to the research facility?" The Director spoke.

"Yes, sir. York and North." Colorado answered. The look on The Director's face showed surprise, but he quickly masked it and nodded.

"Very well then. You three won't have any support from us since we will be out of system for at least seventy-two hours while the others are on their mission. You three are dismissed. Be ready to leave in an hour." He drawled before turning to the rest of the agents. Colorado, York, and North walked out the door.

"Why'd you pick us? I'd think you'd want Carolina or Tex for this. We have no idea what we'll be going up against." York wondered.

"Because Carolina is a leader, so she is better suited for the other mission. And Tex… well she scares me. I'm terrible at picking locks, and Forerunner facilities have some very complex locks, hence me picking you. And I picked North because I don't think I could handle Wyoming's knock knock jokes, but I still wanted the team to be stealth and infiltration oriented. I've already loaded a decent amount of gear onto a pelican in my bay. If there's anything you want to bring with I suggest you get it." Colorado explained.

"Does food count?" York asked, only half sarcastically.

"Already packed two weeks' worth of MREs, just in case." Colorado answered.

"Alright, I'm going to go get my rifle. Did you already pack ammo?" North asked.

"I've got a large crate of ammo for sniper rifles, a second for battle rifles, a third for assault rifles, and two small crates of ammo for pistols. A case of grenades. The locker has a pair of rocket launchers and sniper rifles. Basic medical gear, various supplies we might need while on a foreign planet alone, and a pair of mongoose ATVs." Colorado listed what he could remember having hauled onto the pelican. York and North nodded their heads and walked off to gather whatever it was they were planning on bringing along. Colorado continued down into the bay.

"Good news. It passed all the tests I could think of at it. It's up to you if you want to try to field test it now. It shouldn't explode like the last one." Scythe remarked. The news brought a smile to Colorado's face, and he installed the shield unit into his armor before he pulled Scythe from his terminal and installed him.

"I hate that feeling." He shivered.

"It's not much fun on this side either. You imagine what it's like going from processing amounts of information you couldn't do in days in seconds, to being connected to your slow brain." The AI teased playfully. Colorado chuckled as he walked up the ramp to double check all the gear aboard the drop-ship and make sure everything was secure in the event of crashing. He had seen way to many crates flying around on a crash landing to make that mistake when he was the one prepping everything.

"What the hell? Sine when are Pelicans black?" York asked as he and North walked into the bay, weapons magnetized to their armor.

"Just a few upgrades I made. Haven't been able to test them in the field, figure this would be a good time. The paint is dormant camouflage panels. Turn them on in the cockpit and the thing sort of disappears. The only way to see it is by the distortion, and that only looks like heat ripples and whatnot." Colorado explained as they climbed into the back of the pelican. Colorado quickly walked out and magnetized his weapons onto his armor, before getting back on the drop-ship to see York had just dropped his duffel bags on the floor.

"Pick those up and secure them either under or above the seats. Makes crashing less problematic when your gear isn't trying to crush you. Because when you're crashing the thing you want to focus on is the gear flying around." Colorado scolded. York sighed, but put the bags away properly. Colorado strolled into the cockpit and sat in the pilot seat, running all the pre-flight checks and sat back to wait. After a while North walked up and joined him in the other seat.

"So, have you been to a Forerunner facility before?" he asked.

"Haven't had the chance to yet, at least not physically. Are you upset that you're not going with the others?"

"No way. This is a whole new type of mission which should be interesting. Plus it gets us out of this ship for a few days." North chuckled.

"Yeah. But we have no idea what we might find there. Scythe may or may not have hacked some classified files from a previous expedition to a Forerunner facility. They found hostile machines as well as parasitic life form that is very hostile. So I'm not sure if it'll be a good thing not being on the ship. I guess we'll see soon enough."

"Don't blame your crimes on me! You're the one who hunted down those files. I'm not going to be some scapegoat for you. No matter how spacious your head is." Scythe interjected as he appeared on the console.

"Stay out of my head!" Colorado yelled.

"You're the one who decided to bring me along."

"Go reread the Forerunner symbols file or something." Colorado ordered.

"I already did that."

"Do it again!" the two freelancers watched the hologram visually slump its shoulders and disappear.

"I'm not sure I want one of those in my head." North joked.

"Mine's not so bad, North! Fragments seem much less of a nuisance than a full AI. Less attitude." York called from the back of the drop-ship.

"Any chance you would want to trade?" Colorado joked.

"No way! Your AI can be a jerk."

"_Can I depressurize the rear compartment when we are in space?_" Scythe asked.

"_No. It wouldn't help anyway. He has his helmet on._" Colorado answered the AI's thought. Scythe grumbled a little, but soon dropped it as F.L.I.S.S. cleared them to leave the ship. Colorado started the pelican and they were soon away from the _Mother of Invention_, off to the unknown of the Forerunner facility.

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**And they are off! woo!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry I've sort of slowed down the writting. Had major foot surgery a few months ago and I've been working on putting weight on it so I get off the darn crutches! Anyway, here you go! please read and review!**

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Colorado piloted the pelican down onto the planet and landed near what was supposed to be the entrance.

"Where's the research facility?" York asked. The only thing within view was rolling orange sand dunes, every which way they looked.

"It's right in front of us. The entrance only opens for an hour at sunrise. Once we get in we can keep the entrance open, but we have to be inside. So we've got about twelve hours off. I think we should each take a four hour watch shift. I don't find the idea of some unknown dessert monster eating us pleasant." Colorado said.

"I'll take first watch." North called before he climbed out of the pelican and onto the roof to keep watch.

"I'm going to get ahead on my sleep. Wake me up when it's my turn for watch. Or if something tries to eat us." Colorado said before lying down on the floor. York shrugged and started removing his armor.

"York that is ill advised in this particular environment." Delta said.

"I'm going to work on my tan. If something tries to attack us then I can jump back in here and put it back on." York started to climb out of the pelican, sighing as Delta continued his logical lecture.

"_Maybe Scythe isn't all that bad."_ Colorado thought to himself as he drifted off into a light sleep.

Colorado sat calmly on the side of the pelican, watching the night sky as it slowly started to grow lighter.

"The entrance will be opening soon. You should wake them up. Oh, better yet, I'll do it." Scythe said mischievously, before disappearing. Colorado got up and started to climb down into the pelican, but paused when he heard the alarms going off. York and North were both jumping awake, reaching for guns.

"Scythe, turn the damn alarm off. They're up." Colorado sighed as he dropped the remaining distance into the pelican. The AI laughed, and turned off the alarm.

"What the hell was that?" York groaned.

"Scythe decided to wake you both up. He's in a mischievous mood lately." Colorado laughed as he opened the rear hatch and hooked up two small collapsible trailers to the ATV's. He walked them down the ramp after he tossed bags with extra ammo and the extra weapons on to the trailers. North and York quickly followed after with tired yawns as the ramp sealed the pelican shut.

"Scythe, activate the camo system and lock the ship down. Also send quarantine protocols and detonation codes to Delta for backup. And arm the charges." He ordered the AI as he started the ATVs up.

"Charges? Detonation codes? What are you talking about?" York asked. Delta flashed to indicate he had received the files sent by Scythe.

"The last forerunner facility discovered was destroyed when Sergeant John Forge detonated an FTL drive inside the planet, which was home to forerunner machines that attacked everything and parasites that infect soldiers and reanimates them to further spread infection. Command established that anyone intentionally seeking forerunner tech must do any and everything to prevent the infection from escaping. Since the parasites retain the hosts skill set I had to place explosives on the pelican in the event of Infection. If we get infected or are about to die Delta or Scythe will transmit a warning to avoid the planet and detonate the charges, destroying the pelican and trapping the infection. But that only matters IF the infection is in this facility." Colorado explained.

"And that is highly unlikely. This was a Forerunner weapons and tech research lab. Not a biological studies lab." Scythe added, seeing the spikes in York's vitals at the idea.

"You two should drive. I'll ride passenger with York. Want to get as much video footage of the facility as possible." Colorado instructed. They were silent, with York adopting the distant posture that meant he was in deep conversation with his AI, a sight Colorado had been used to before joining the Freelancers, as they waited for the entrance to reveal itself. After a while there came a loud quaking and the sand shifted as a sealed metal bunker rose up out of the ground. Colorado walked up to the door and a holopad appeared. He started pressing buttons on it, letting Scythe and the forerunner memories guide him through the process of opening the door. It slid open with a hiss, and Colorado jumped onto the ATV with York. The ATVs sped off into the dark abyss of the facility. Colorado tried to record as much of the expansive hall as he could as they speed deeper into the bunker.

"Stop here. There's a control terminal." Scythe ordered. York and North stopped, and Colorado leapt off and walked over to the NAV marked terminal.

"Put me in. I'll activate the power grid and download any information I can." Colorado complied. Several seconds passed and the lights suddenly flicked on and machines started to hum.

"Done." Scythe called, and Colorado pulled him from the system. "Would you like the good news, or the bad news?" The AI continued.

"Good." Colorado said as he climbed back onto the ATV behind York.

"There are no traces of the parasite referred to in their systems as "The Flood" in this solar system, and all useful forerunner tech and data is kept in a location called the vault. NAV point location is up." The markers appeared on their HUDs and they started driving towards it.

"What's the bad?" North asked.

"The facility is home to a dumb AI, which recognized me as a foreign system. Security systems have been activated." The AI replied as a metallic clicking noise started echoing through the hall behind them.

"Scythe, what kind of security is making that noise? The reports said the other facilities used three beam floating sentinels. Floating doesn't make clicking noises."

"Prototype security sentinels designed for medium to close range combat and pursuit."

"Meaning?" Colorado asked. Scythe didn't bother responding; the hallway ahead of them became suddenly alive with white metallic machines the size of a small person and resembled arachnids, with one glowing orange eye. The eyes started to glow and the three freelancers took that as a sign to jump off their ATVs to the sides. The ATVs stalled not too far up ahead in the hall, and the laser discharges from the machines missed. The three of them quickly leapt up and started shooting at the machines. Their bullets had almost no effect on the metallic figures.

"Aim for the eye! It's the only part without a shield and protective plating." Scythe said. They aimed for the lights. The system was very effective, a direct hit caused the machines to explode into parts and stun any others immediately around it.

"It would have to be damn spiders. I blame York!" Colorado growled.

"How the hell is it my fault!?"

"You started the mechanical spider thing going, the cosmic universe just kept it going for you!" One of the machines leapt off the wall. Colorado rolled backwards as it landed where he had been. He lunged forward and grabbed the thing in a headlock and squeezed. The head of the machine snapped off with a sickening crack and it collapsed. Colorado looked around for the gun he had dropped, and saw a machine targeting North. The purple freelancer was otherwise occupied, and wouldn't be able to turn in time. Colorado leapt in the way, activating the shield unit. The blue wall materialized just in time; the laser collided with it and bounced off to kill one of the machines. Colorado deactivated the shield, which had turned red, and rushed to grab his gun.

"The file I downloaded on them says they're very sensitive to light and sound."

"Light and sound, huh? North, York, turn up the polarization on your visors to max and turn off outside noise filters." Colorado commanded. He pulled three flash bangs from his belt and threw them. Three sequential flashes and bangs later, and the machines were dropping from the wall.

"Their stunned state won't last very long. Hurry up and get to the vault!" Scythe instructed.

"Is it just me or does it seem like Scythe is giving more orders than Colorado?" York whispered to North.

"Let's just go." North said. York sighed and the group sped off, journeying deeper into the massive forerunner complex.


	16. Chapter 16

**Heres the next chapter! thank you all for the reviews! Enjoy!**

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"York how long until that doors open?" Colorado asked between bursts of gunfire.

"Depends. What's the likelihood of me suddenly learning what these symbols all mean?" York called from behind him. North and Colorado were taking cover behind two support beam outcroppings, trying to keep the spider-sentinels from getting further into the hallway.

"Scythe, go help him." Colorado ordered. The AI projected itself next to York, and started explaining what each symbol meant.

"What the hell is that?" North asked as a large machine started to thunder down the halls, still indistinct in the shadows.

"Please don't be an even bigger spider. Whatever god is out there, please no bigger spider." Colorado muttered as they continued to shoot the spider-sentinels. The large machine stepped into the light. It was a giant, angular, bipedal robot that stood well over twenty feet tall. One of its arms looked like a giant canon, and the other looked like some alien form of a machine gun.

"York… we need that door open. Like, three minutes ago." Colorado said calmly as he ducked into cover as the machine gun started spitting hundreds of pieces of hard-light at him.

"What is that?" York asked over his shoulder.

"York, just open the door. Now please." North said, grabbing one of the rocket launchers and peeking out from cover and fired the two rockets at the behemoth machine. The flames danced across a flashing blue shield that enveloped the machine, but didn't even singe the plating behind that.

"There's no way we can take down that big thing at the moment. Just keep the smaller ones back and don't get shot." Colorado ordered. North nodded and the two both started aiming at the small robots, ducking back into cover when the larger one targeted them.

"Got it!" York finally yelled as a large door slid open.

"Get the ATVs in. I'll cover you!" Colorado grabbed the second rocket launcher and shot one rocket at the behemoth to get its attention, and the other at the largest group of the smaller sentinels. York and North jumped on the ATVs and rode them into the room. Colorado walked backwards into the room, taking out any of the machines to keep himself from getting killed. York closed the door as he crossed the threshold. The doors slid shut on the firing rounds from the behemoth, two of which slipped through the door and punctured Colorado's shield, then his armor, and stopped in his shoulder.

"Ow! Are you kidding me? This armor was brand new." He growled as he looked at the wound. He looked around the room. There were a few small boxes, a large box that was a little bigger than any of the freelancers, and a terminal.

"Put me in the terminal. I'll download their files and try to shut down the security system." Scythe said. Colorado walked over and inserted the AI, then started to load the room's contents onto the trailers.

"That looks really painful. You want us to take care of the loading?" North asked as he saw the wound in Colorado's shoulder, which was oozing blood.

"I'm fine. Had much worse before and kept going then, this won't stop me." Colorado grunted. North looked at York for help in on the subject, but the tan armored freelancer just shrugged. It wasn't long until the vaults sparse contents were loaded onto the trailers and the three were standing around the room, waiting for the AI to finish its work downloading the files in the forerunner computer.

"Done! I can reboot the security systems; it'll give us exactly sixty seconds to get out of the base before they're on us again. When you're ready I'll reboot them." Scythe said. They quickly turned the ATVs around to face the door and started them up. North sat on one, waiting, while York stood by the door control. Colorado walked up to the terminal and prepared to remove his AI.

"Initiate the reboot." He said.

"Done, let's go." The AI said almost immediately. Colorado pulled the AI as the door slid open and York jumped onto the second mongoose. Colorado quickly jumped on behind him and they were racing out the door. All the machines were sitting around, motionless.

"Gun it! I want us to be as far away from those things as possible before they come back online!" Colorado ordered. The ATVs sped away through the halls. By the time the sentinel machines had finished their reboot the freelancers were out of their reach. It wasn't long before the group rode right out the main door. Colorado jumped off the ATV as soon as they were out the door and rolled through the landing. He quickly got up, ignoring the sting of the sand that had made its way into his shoulder, and started working with the door controls. The doors hissed shut, and the bunker slid back down into the sand.

"So, was that what you were expecting from a forerunner facility?" Colorado joked as he walked up to the others.

"No way, definitely a new experience. Though next time, take South. She's a much bigger fan of that type of thing." North chuckled. Scythe deactivated the camo on the pelican and opened the ramp in the back. They loaded up the haul onto the pelican and sealed the hatch.

"Get out of your armor so I can treat your wound. There's no idea what kind of weapon they were using or what they can do." York instructed as he pulled out a med kit.

"It's not that big a deal. I can clean it." Colorado said. He moved forward to take the med kit.

"Not going to happen. York's the best field medic in the project. Just take off your armor and let him treat the wound. Don't be a girl." North said forcefully. After a few seconds he added, "I am really glad none of the girls are here. If they were I'd be the one needing medical attention." Colorado and York chuckled at the remark and, with a sigh of defeat, Colorado started to remove the chest, shoulder, and upper arm sections of his armor. He pulled the under suit down, wincing as he had to peel the blood and sand matted material off of his still bleeding wound. York walked up and started cleaning the wound.

"Damn, it went all the way through." York muttered. Colorado fought against the urge to shuffle away. He had always hated medical treatment in the field. He would much rather wait until for medical treatment from some stranger, but that wasn't an option.

"Well, that's as good as I can do. The sand got in there pretty good. You're going to have to take it real easy until the medics can take a look at you. But you'll live…I think. Fifty fifty odds."

"I've faced worse. But if I do kick the bucket, I will be coming back as a ghost and haunting you." Colorado joked back.


	17. Chapter 17

**I present to you, for your viewing and reading pleasures, one chapter number 17! Enjoy! =)**

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"Alright. Well your shoulder will be fine. But you need to restrain yourself from over using it for twenty four hours, and take two of these antibiotics twice a day for the next week to keep from getting an infection." A medic handed Colorado a bottle of pills and walked out. Colorado stood up off the medical bed he had been sitting on and pulled his shirt on. He walked into the viewing room where the others were all suited up and watching Carolina training against South and C.T.

"No armor?" Wash asked.

"Nope. Not allowed to train for twenty four hours while I'm healing." Colorado sighed.

"Then you have no excuse to not come with us to a club tonight." York smirked from behind his visor. Colorado shook his head vigorously.

"No way. That was horrible the last time. I'll stay here and watch the footage from our mission or run some tests on the gear we got." He stammered.

"You owe me and North. We almost got killed by alien spider robots and a giant machine horror. Then we had to spend two days in the dessert with nothing to do! You're coming with." York practically ordered.

"But I don't want to! It was so loud, and crowded. There was nothing fun about it last time." Colorado whined.

"Too bad. You're coming with us and that's final." Tex ended the conversation with a growl. He scowled in response, before turning and set off to trudge down the hall.

"Be ready and in the launch bay by 1930! And dress nice!" York called after him. Colorado stormed off through the halls, barely letting anyone get out of his way before trampling them, and walked into his bay.

"Tell me you have good news for me." He growled as Scythe's projection appeared.

"I can tell you what one of the boxes is supposed to do."

"That's it!? The almighty fast thinking Scythe only has that little information gleaned?" Colorado mocked.

"Do you know how hard it is to break the security protocols and translate the data on these forerunner files? Any other AI wouldn't even have that for you yet. Patience is a virtue."

"So is humility, and you could really benefit from some of that. So what do you have?" Colorado responded.

"It's supposed to be a deployable armor sentry that the Forerunners used. The device installed into what I believe was their armor, and when activated pulled the sentry from storage via slip space to fight under controls of very simple and mostly useless programming. These models, however, were supposed to be controlled by artificial intelligence, allowing much more utility and better outcomes." Scythe explained.

"Do they work, and can we install it into our armors?"

"They're not fully functional yet, still need testing. And you'll have to modify them to work with human armor, and we will have to reprogram the software to be compatible with human AI matrixes."

"So basically it's the shield unit all over again."

"No, you don't have to build it from scratch and foreign memories. Now we have the original and can use files. Once I finish decoding and translating."

"Fine. You continue that and run what tests you can. I have to go get ready." Colorado pulled one of the sentry units out of the crate and put it in the testing machine so Scythe would be able to test it while he was gone.

"Where are you going?" the AI wondered.

"The others decided it'd be fun to drag me to a club. Again. If I don't make it back install viruses in all their stuff to avenge me." Colorado said before he started to leave.

"Are you kidding? If you don't make it back I'm going to have to find a way to bake a cake for them."

"I hate you, Scythe. I really do."

"No you don't. Have fun out there." Colorado growled in reply as he walked out the door.

Colorado dragged his feet as he walked into the back of the pelican, seeing everyone dressed up again.

"Jeans and another black shirt. Do you wear anything else?" York wondered.

"My armor." York sighed and shook his head.

"Here we go ladies! And this time, no one get drunk enough to hurl on the ride back. I just cleaned my baby and we don't need any more throw up in her." 479er called as they left the _Mother of Invention_.

"That means you, Wash." Carolina scowled at him.

"I know! Jeese." The ride through the atmosphere was quick and filled with pointless small talk. They landed and York led the group to a club with a very long line outside the door. The group received many stares from the line, and soon people were telling them to go ahead.

"It's because big people like you scare them, and they're hoping the girls will be drunk enough by the time they get in they'll have a shot at them." Wash whispered the explanation to Colorado as they started to approach the bouncer. Colorado thanked him, not taking his eyes off York as he shook the bouncers hand and Colorado saw the glimpse of a few bills change hands and make their way to the man's pocket. The freelancers started into the building, with Colorado bringing up the rear. As he was about to walk into the door the bouncer stopped him.

"Don't cause any problems, okay? Just because you're big doesn't mean you're exempt from the rules."

"No sir. Wasn't planning on it." Colorado said before walking into the building. He looked around and saw the group sitting on couches above the dance floor waving him over.

"You've got to try this!" Wash said as he handed one of the pointlessly small glasses that everyone else was holding.

"What is it?"

"It's a panty-dropper shot. Drink it in one big gulp!" C.T. called from Wyoming's lap.

"Why's it called a panty-dropper?"

"Because drink enough of them and you're going to drop your panties, dumbass!" Tex growled.

"To the Freelancers!" York said. His toast was repeated by the others (excluding the confused Colorado) and then all of them took the shots.

"That crap is nasty!" Colorado growled. His face scrunched up in disgust and he started dragging his tongue against his teeth to remove the foul taste.

"It's an acquired taste." North explained as everyone started making their way down to the dance floor.

"You coming?" Wash asked. Colorado shook his head no and leaned back into the couch. Wash shrugged and followed the others. After about fifteen minutes a pair of girls came up and stood to the side and in front of the couch Colorado was on.

"Hey. You look lonely there, stud. Maybe we can keep you company and buy you a couple of drinks?" the taller of the two blonde girls giggled. Colorado tilted his head, not understanding the flirting. Then an unexpected voice said from behind them, "Sorry, ladies. He's spoken for."

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**Bum bum bum! Who do you want it to be? Who will be making a move on Agent Colorado! Ready...Set...REVIEW!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry for the wait! I had massive writers block, coupled with indecision on who should be the one making a move on Colorado. I wrote it out for each possible pairing(I even wrote out little individual scenes of the possible pairings interacting to try and decide which I liked best), and this was the one I thought was best and would make the most sense in the long run due to personality views from the different agents and whatnot. anyway, enjoy! I PROMISE to have at least another chapter up sometime tonight. Also, congratulations to everyone for surviving the end of the world LOLOLOL.**

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**Last chapter**

"Hey. You look lonely there, stud. Maybe we can keep you company and buy you a couple of drinks?" the taller of the two blonde girls giggled. Colorado tilted his head, not understanding the flirting. Then an unexpected voice said from behind them, "Sorry, ladies. He's spoken for."

Colorado turned his head to see York standing behind the two girls. They turned to look at him, confusion on their faces. The Freelancer smirked at them as they looked back and forth between them, York looking smugly confident; Colorado completely confused as to what the hell was going on.

"Oh. Well, have fun." One of the girls said. Her tone was slightly dejected. The two girls walked off to converse with someone else as York sat down across from Colorado, who tilted his head as he tried to figure out what just happened.

Umm…" He started.

"Those girls were flirting with you. Their type is easy to spot; they target the good looking guys and try to whore around with them." York explained.

"Okay… But why did you say I'm spoken for?" York laughed as a waitress brought over a golden drink from the bar.

"You're absolutely clueless, you know that." His voice adopted an odd tone, similar to the one used by the girls used.

"Spoken for, like you're taken by someone else. Like Connie and Wyoming are spoken for by the other. And Carolina and South, sort of. They're relationship is…different." York continued.

"So spoken for means in a relationship with someone?" Colorado was still lost, but he thought that was what York was saying. York nodded an affirmation.

"So if I'm spoken for, then I'm in a relationship? With who? I don't remember anything developing. C.T. explained relationships a bit to me; I don't remember asking or being asked out." Colorado tried to recall the conversation C.T. had had with him, explaining how relationships worked and making him watch those horribly boring movies that revolved around people dating.

"I told them that to get them to go away, because I wanted to talk to you." York said. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"About what?" Colorado wondered.

"It's a very good thing you're a really good soldier, you're clueless about everything else. I wanted to ask you out." York uttered the last part shyly, the music almost drowning his words out. Colorado looked at him, wondering if he was serious or playing a prank on him. Colorado suddenly wished he could be in his armor, hidden behind the visor. He could see York carefully studying his face.

"So what would you say if I did? Because I'm not going to ask if I'm not going to like the answer." York joked without conviction. Colorado opened his mouth to try and answer with his own torrent of questions, but there was gunfire from outside the door. Screams soon followed and three men in masks and scuffed up armor similar to those of marines carrying assault rifles stormed into the room. The music stopped and was replaced by the terrified cries of the clubs patrons and the yelled orders by the three men. Colorado really wished he had his armor on at that moment. He wondered why he even bothered getting out of it. He forced the thoughts out of his mind and focused on the situation at hand.

"Those have to be insurrection terrorists, targeting this club since it's a hotspot for UNSC troops on leave." York whispered. Colorado grabbed his freelancer companion and pulled him to hide behind the couch as the resistance troops herded the clubs patrons against one wall.

"Stay down." Colorado said as he slid the knife from in his boot and gripped it tight. York opened his mouth to protest, but Colorado had already leapt over the couch and then the railing to the dance floor. The first of the insurrectionists turned in time to see Colorado's knife plunging into his chest. Colorado released the blade and yanked the man's gun away. A short burst of fire tore through the back of the second insurrectionist. Colorado turned to aim at the third, but the old, outdated rifle model jammed. The third insurrectionist turned and saw his two comrades dead and the hulking frame of Colorado working on unjamming the rifle.

"Son of a bitch! You die first!" The main yelled. What happened next appeared as if in slow motion to Colorado. There was the noise of gunfire. Then the flash of the bullets leaving the barrel. That led to the feeling as the bullets hit him, and the not-uncommon pain. The other freelancers had seen their opportunity and rushed forward, over powering the insurrectionist. Wash and C.T. tied the man up with rope he had had on him. North, Carolina, and Tex grabbed the rifles and went out the front door to hunt down any other insurrectionists in the area. Colorado dropped his rifle and fell to his knees as blood started to trickle out of his wounds.

"This was my favorite shirt too." He muttered as the other freelancers rushed up to his side. South pulled out a radio and told 479er they needed her to land as close to the club as possible.

"Colorado, you fucking idiot! Why'd you go and do that without your armor?" Tex growled as she, North, and Carolina returned. He just smirked back, his face losing color.

"Not that big a deal. Would've been fine if the rifle hadn't jammed. Not sure if I should be happy or pissed they had outdated garbage weapons." He responded. He saw York walking up in the corner of his eyes. York had a med kit in his hands.

"Not biofoam." Colorado groaned. York grinned.

"Stop getting shot then. It's not that bad." He said as he started using the foam to seal up the wounds until they could get back to the _Mother of Invention_. Colorado held back a shiver as the foam filled in.

"Don't be a bitch." Tex hissed angrily. The roar of the pelican outside filled the air and the group filed on board, bringing their prisoner with them as sirens started to echo in the distance. Colorado hid a grimace as the pelican jostled them around.

The flight back to the _Mother of Invention_ was quick, and as soon as they docked a medical team forced Colorado down onto a stretcher and some marines escorted the insurrectionist to the detention area of the ship.

"I still expect an answer." York told Colorado. He laughed in response as one of the med team injected him with something to knock him out for treatment.

"I guess we will have to finish the conversation when I wake up." Colorado muttered in response. His eyes fluttered shut as he was taken away by the med team, leaving the rest of the team watching.


	19. Chapter 19

**Here's chapter 19. Have some stuff to say, dont want to spoil it so the Authors Note will be at the end. Enjoy!**

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Colorado moved his head around groggily as he woke up.

"I've got to stop coming here." He groaned as he tried to sit up.

"No you don't, mister. You tore up your shoulder. You're not getting out of that bed until you are completely healed this time." A nurse said angrily.

"But I need to train with the others." He protested.

"No, you need to heal. And if you try to get up again I'll give you enough sedatives to knock out an elephant and you'll wake up restrained to the bed." The nurse walked out of the room as Colorado sighed in defeat.

"Stupid outdated rifle." He muttered to himself. He stared at the ceiling in boredom for what seemed like hours until the door slid open. He turned his head to see Wash and C.T. walking into the room.

"How's it going?" C.T. asked. She and Wash both sat down in the seats next to the bed.

"I'm fine. Any word on if my shirt's going to make it?" Colorado joked.

"It didn't make it." Wash smirked.

"Dang. So, how long was I out? And what have you all been doing?"

"Well, you were out for three days. Medics said they didn't want you getting up and ruining their handiwork. The Director has been interrogating the insurrectionist for information. And we've been busy training. And teaching. Oh, and Maine's up and about now. Carolina gave up her spot to get an AI so he could get it and be able to communicate better." C.T. informed him.

"Teaching? Who?" Colorado wondered.

"New recruits! Six of them. Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Michigan, Nebraska, and Vermont." Wash cheered.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, they're pretty decent. Not leader board material, but they'll do for some extra manpower in a tight spot." Wash said.

"Really? The sexist thing again Wash? The three best of them are the girls! And you'd know that if you paid attention to their training instead of New Mexico's ass." C.T. shoved him playfully.

"What are you talking about?" Wash asked wide-eyed.

"We've all seen it." Wash scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"So, have you guys heard at all about when I will be getting the hell out of here? The nurse only yelled at me not to get out of bed."

"You've got two more days in here pal." C.T. said. Colorado groaned and threw his head back.

"Any chance I can get them just to sedate me so it goes by faster?" he hoped.

"No way. Besides, I believe you have to answer a certain question." C.T. chuckled.

"What are you talking about? What question?" Wash questioned.

"Nothing Wash." C.T. said quickly.

"How is the rec room going to fit all the new agents? We all barely fit in there."

"There's more furniture in there now. And two more T.V.s." Wash said happily.

"Well, we need to get going. More training to do. Oh, the leaderboard was expanded to the top ten now. You're number 9, ahead of Maine." C.T. smiled at him. She stood up and Wash followed suit.

"Have fun. Break something for me." Colorado called as they walked out the door. He sighed as they left. Now all he had to do was sit in the bed and think, or maybe get some sleep.

"Match starting. Carolina leading team one with Michigan and Nebraska. North Dakota leading team two with Hawaii and California. Texas leading team three with New Mexico and Vermont." F.L.I.S.S. called out.

"Monty, on my right. Newb, cover the left." Tex growled at the Black and yellow armored male freelancer and the white and yellow armored female, respectively. The two nodded and fell into position behind her. They were clearing the rows and columns systematically, staying low and staying under cover.

On the other side of the training room, North had Hawaii and California huddled together as he explained the game plan.

"Carolina is going to have her team go after Tex, so if we can wait it out till they both engage, we can sneak in and pick them off while they fight each other. Cal, take point. I'll take center. Hawaii, you're the rear guard." North ordered. Cal nodded, the white and red helm wobbling slightly from improper fitting.

"Be sure to get your helmet adjusted after the match." North ordered the younger man. Cal started to lead, and North followed. He kept an eye on his motion tracker to make sure Hawaii didn't fall too far behind. She was the smallest of all the agents, old and new, but the previous day she had proven she was also one of the fastest. The only one who had been able to keep up had been Carolina, and she had to use her equipment to get ahead. He thought Colorado could probably keep up with her as well, because of his being a Spartan, but otherwise she could easily dust the others. He liked that. The sound of gunfire suddenly echoed throughout the room, and North and his team took cover behind some pillars.

Carolina patted Michigan on the back in congratulations, the white and purple recruit had got the first kill, he had shot Newb as she had rounded a corner, where she now stood locked in purple paint.

"Good shot Mitch. I would've gotten the other two as well though." Nebraska said as she inspected the armor locked girl. She rested a hand on her armored hip. Carolina scowled. She didn't like Nebraska. The red and blue armored girl was far too cocky. The new recruits had overheard them talking about Colorado in the med bay, and she had been the one to think he would be a pushover. Carolina distinctly remembered her words,

"When do I get to take his place on the leader board?" Carolina reminded herself she would have to ask Colorado to go one on one against her when he was released from the med bay.

"Don't get a big head Nebraska. Tex was able to destroy York, Wyoming, and Maine together. She'd have no problem taking on you." She scolded. Nebraska huffed in annoyance, but fell back into formation.

Up in the viewing room, the original agents were watching on.

"I've got ten on Tex's team winning." York said. He pulled a bill out and held it in the air.

"I'll take that bet, mate. My money is on Carolina." Wyoming said. He pulled a bill out and dropped it on the counter.

"My brother's going to show both of them how we do it. And both of those bills are going to keep mine's company." South sneered. She too dropped a bill down onto the pile. The rest of the group declined on entering the betting pool. Not long after, more shots rang out from below. Nebraska and Michigan were now both encased in paint, with Tex and Monty weaving through the blocks away from the pursuing Carolina. More shots rang out and Monty was encased in paint, but he managed to take Cal with him. Carolina weaved behind North and Hawaii. She shot them both in the back before running after Tex.

"Are you for fucking real!? Damn it North! I had money on you!" South yelled over the speakers. The sound caused Carolina to double take and look at the viewing room. Tex spun from cover and emptied her clip into Carolina's chest. She growled in rage as her armor locked up.

"Round over. Team three wins." F.L.I.S.S.'s voice rang through the room.

"I always do." Tex whispered cheekily as she walked past Carolina. The sea foam green freelancer roared in frustration after her.

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**So, After a lot of thinking I decided some of my planned relationships just didn't seem to fit the characters. plus with six male characters, four female, with hardly any personalities that would mesh properly for an actual relationship. Tex doesn't seem the type for an actual relationship, more of a hook up type of person, and the only two that even make sense to me are the Colorado/York one and C.T./Wyoming, any other relationships I've hinted at are being tossed into the garbage pale. As you can tell, I won't be sticking entirely to canon with the relationships and what-not. But I've brought in the new recruits to help get some of the characters in relationships that make sense. This was to introduce the new ones, next chapter will have a good amount of their personalities. let me know of anything you want to see out of them. I would like to use them to help give my readers some control over what goes on. so please review, and feel free to send me an actual message.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20! I wanted to end the day on an even number, so here lol.**

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"So, I have an awesome idea for a prank on the new agents for tomorrow when Colorado gets out of the med bay tomorrow." York loudly whispered as he sat down at the table with the other leaderboard agents. They turned their heads expectantly. Maine let out a quizzical grunt.

"Go on." The disturbing voice of Sigma translated.

"Well, I was thinking when he gets out of the med bay we have him armor up in his Spartan gear, then act as a statue and Carolina can give them a lecture or something and walk by. She brings up the Spartans and then as they look at the statue he jumps at them and yells. It'd be awesome!" He raced through the words, taking occasional glances at the table where the recruits were sitting eating their own meals.

"Good plan. But how are you going to get him to go along, when Carolina is already getting him to fight Nebraska when he gets out?" Wash inquired.

"Tex, South and I can handle that. Besides, it might be even better for Nebraska to get beat by a Spartan." Carolina answered.

"Three terrifying women making him do something. I almost feel bad for him." Wash said.

"I know I do." North remarked. It wasn't long before the meal was over, and North, Wash, Maine, and Wyoming were off to goof around in the rec room while they could have control over the room. South, Tex, and Carolina, all three with mischievous and maniacal looks on their faces, went off in the direction of the med bay.

"So, I think I have an idea on how to help teach Colorado emotions. Since forcing him to watch movie and T.V. marathons didn't seem to work all too well." C.T. said.

"And what is this idea?"

"Well, I remember reading about a study where they were trying to get chimpanzees to feel and understand human emotions. They attached helmets to the chimps when they were sleeping they ran the information through the chimps' brains. I got my hands on the emotion files. We could give them to Scythe and have him run them through Colorado's mind while he's sleeping."

"Would it be possible for us to use the files as well, York?" Delta appeared on his shoulder.

"I'm not sure The Director would be happy about that idea, D. I'll be sure to ask him for you though. Now log off." York ordered the AI. The green hologram disappeared, and York continued the conversation with C.T.

"Connie, were there any adverse side effects in this study? Usually they don't experiment on chimps unless bad things could happen. Otherwise they would just study on people."

"Some of the chimps did show slightly increased aggression. But it wasn't a high enough statistic to cause the scientists any worry. We can go and get Scythe right now. I've been working on this for weeks. I'm getting tired of him asking me about stuff." C.T. laughed. She dragged York to his feet and then off to bay seven. As the approached the room they could hear loud voices coming from inside. The door slid open and they saw Nebraska standing not far in the door herself, arguing with the large projection of Scythe.

"You don't have clearance to be in here! This room is entirely off limits! Get the hell out before I vent the atmosphere!" Scythe growled.

"I don't take orders from you, or any other stupid computer program." Nebraska responded, walking through the hologram and started to inspect the room.

"Hey! Nebraska, get the hell out of here." York said angrily. The recruit had just picked up the pristinely taken care of battle rifle off of a table; the rifle that Colorado had quickly established was one of his prized possessions.

"How come you can be in here and I can't?" the girl asked hotly, dropping the rifle on the deck.

"Because they have the clearance to be in here. And they don't drop the prized rifle of a soldier who's taken more lives than people you've met in your lifetime." Scythe said angrily.

"What's so special about some damn rifle? It's not even the new DMR, this thing is junk."

"How mad would The Director be if I shot her? The current project we've been working on would let me do it and I really need to test it." Scythe asked.

"Judging by the extensive requirements to get into the project, I deduce The Director would be less than pleased with the loss of Agent Nebraska."

"D, log off. And no shooting Nebraska Scythe. Unless she refuses to leave." York said. Nebraska stormed out the door, kicking the rifle as she did. York reached down, picked it up, and then placed it back on the table. Scythe thanked them after upping the security locks on the door before asking the two agents what they were there for. C.T. explained they wanted him to help them get Colorado to understand emotions and needed his help. The AI agreed, on the condition that they sing a song celebrating his greatness. The two begrudgingly did as asked, and then pulled the AI from his terminal and headed to the med bay.

"Thank god! It's so boring in here." Colorado said as the two walked in.

"We brought you a visitor too." C.T. smiled and handed the AI to him. He connected the AI and shivered at the chill.

"_Finally! I was missing the roominess._" Scythe said.

"_If you don't stop with the roominess of my head jokes I'm going to install you into the smallest computer I can find with no FLEETCOM uplink._" Colorado responded. The threat shut the AI up.

"By the way, Nebraska forced her way into your bay and dropped your rifle on the floor." York informed him.

"WHAT!? Tell South, Tex, and Carolina I don't even need their threats to get me to destroy her. Whatever plans they have I'm in. And there had better be a medical team nearby tomorrow after our match. She's going to need it." He growled. He quickly simmered down, and the three of them started to fill the air with random small talk. The time flew by and soon the nurse was coming in saying York and Connie had to leave.

"See you in the morning. Tomorrow's going to be fun." York laughed manically as he walked out the door.

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**So, I cant think of a good nickname for Nebraska. anyone have any good ideas? or will she be stuck with the full state name like Wyoming, Colorado, and Carolina? oh, also, please review! they make me happy to write more. and help with inspiration.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Here's chapter 21, please read & review! and feel free to PM me with any suggestions or anything you'd like to see!**

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"I'm sure you're all wondering what we are all about here at Project Freelancer. They probably told you how we are some of the best and what an honor it is to be accepted into the project. But we're just one of many programs trying to develop a way to win the war. The most heard of is, of course, the Spartan Program." Carolina said to the new recruits as they stood in one of the large central hallway. The recruits were all holding their helmets under their arms and listening to her speech. New Mexico, or Newb as the team had taken to calling her, was the one who was focusing most on her words, The pale face scrunched up in concentration, only softening when she was distracted and brushing her dirty blonde bangs away from her eye. Hawaii was by her side, but the tanned girl kept glancing over to where North was conversing with the other leaderboard Freelancers half a dozen yards away. Cal and Mitch were making jokes under their breath with one another. Carolina wondered why The Director had decided on bringing in another set of siblings, though they weren't twins like North and South. They both had pale skin and dark crimson hair, but their builds were completely different. Cal was more along the lines of skinny and tall, where the younger Mitch was shorter and had a muscled build. Next to and slightly behind them was Vermont, or Monty, who was brooding. He wasn't quite pale, but not tanned either, and had bleached blonde hair that hurt her eyes to look at. He was a nice medium for the male recruits, not as tall as Cal, or as muscled as Mitch, but a good middle ground. Carolina was fine with those five; it was the sixth that made her blood boil. Nebraska stood a few feet away from the other recruits, reeking of her stuck up bitch attitude. Her short cut black hair fell in front of her left eye, and her bangs were dyed a vibrant red. She was the least attentive of the group, and acted like she was the best person to grace the _Mother of Invention_. Carolina couldn't wait for her to be put into place.

"We keep this statue of a Spartan to show what we can become if our program pushes itself. We mostly deal with the Insurrection, but there's always the chance we will end up against Covenant. I want each of you to take a close look of the statue, and think about what's so special about them, and what you can do to be more like them. When you've all done that we can head to the training room." She finished. She had to hurry over to the group to hide the smirk that was starting to tug at the corner of her mouth.

"This is going to be great." She whispered to York as they turned to watch the group doing as she had ordered, one by one.

"Anyone bring the popcorn?" Wash asked.

"Sorry, mate. Maine ate it all on the way here." Maine growled at Wyoming.

"Be sure to wash the butter off your gloves, Maine. Wouldn't want you to lose grip of your gun." Carolina ordered. Maine growled again. They all watched as Monty turned from the statue and walked away, leaving Nebraska the last one left. She studied the statue for a few seconds before turning her back.

"I don't see what the big deal is. Just a little on the big side. I bet I could-"She started to say, but ended her sentence with a loud scream. Colorado had picked that time to move. He had lunged forward and grabbed her, lifting her into the air and pinning her arms down.

"You bet you could what?" He asked. The other recruits turned and entered fighting stances. They all seemed conflicted, not sure if they wanted to attack the large figure or let him crush Nebraska. Or so that's what the leaderboard Freelancers assumed they were thinking.

"At ease recruits. You can put her down Colorado." Carolina said between gasped breaths. The whole group started laughing.

"Recruits, this is Agent Colorado. Colorado, these are agents Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Michigan, Vermont, and Nebraska." Carolina indicated everyone as Colorado set Nebraska down.

"If you EVER touch me again, I'll fucking kill you!" Nebraska growled up at Colorado. He just crossed his arms and smirked behind his visor.

"If you think you can, then let's see it. Colorado, you up for a match?" Tex sneered.

"I could use a warm up. The med bay got pretty boring. I'll meet you there. Decide who you want to help you and if you want lockup paint or hand to hand." He said before walking to the training room.

"I can take him solo." Nebraska growled hotly as she followed.

"Your funeral." Tex and Carolina said in unison. They both smirked at each other before realizing who one another were. Then they scowled and stormed off.

"I really don't understand those two." York told North as they followed after, everyone else having run ahead. It seemed like the recruits were excited to see a Spartan in action, and everyone else was excited to see Nebraska get put in her place. They had been told no one on one matches with the recruits, but Colorado hadn't been present so he could easily feign ignorance to the rule.

"I don't think anyone does. Or wants to. The female brain is a device designed to confuse and destroy men. Trying to understand it could lead to insanity, or death." North responded. York shrugged in agreement and followed along and into the viewing room with the others. Colorado was relaxing against the table with his gear on it, with Nebraska loading up on the other side.

"Is two clips of ammo too much?" Colorado asked those in the viewing box.

"Nope. Kick her ass." Carolina called over the speakers.

"Round start." F.L.I.S.S. called. Colorado climbed up onto the top of one of the stone columns and sat down. Nebraska found him and fired. He laughed as he rolled backwards. She rounded behind the column and he was gone. He pulled the same stunt with her again and again, with the viewer's laughing as Nebraska became more and more frustrated with his disappearing act.

"Want to make this more interesting?" Wash asked as he started to fiddle with the control panel.

"What do you have in mind?" South asked.

"Training room gravity disabled." F.L.I.S.S. said. The stone columns started to float in the room. Nebraska gasped and started to flounder in the air.

"What the hell is going on!?" She yelled. Colorado laughed and kicked off one of the floating columns. The pillar flew through the air and collided into Nebraska. The stone shattered and sent the recruit flying into the wall.

"I didn't know you could turn off the gravity in there." York said.

"Me neither. I was just hitting buttons like this." Wash hit another button.

"Light's disabled." The training room was plunged into darkness, with only a tiny red light that barely did anything to light the room.

"I'm not sure if I want to hug you or punch you, Wash." Carolina deadpanned. Wash moved behind North and York, terrified of either option from Carolina.

"I'll pass, thanks."

Colorado turned on his helmets flashlight on and kicked off the roof of the training room. He saw Nebraska floating around angrily below, her helmets light swiveling around. He turned off his own light and waited on against a column.

"Why doesn't he just shoot her and get it over with?" Newb asked.

"He's toying with her, showing her she has more than a lot to learn." C.T. Explained.

"But, that's against every written regulation. Unless the mission specifically states otherwise." She stated.

"Hey, she's perfect for you Wash." York jested, his voice low so only North and Wash could hear him.

"Shut up, York." Wash whispered.

Nebraska kicked off a column and floated up to the roof, right past Colorado. He grinned behind his visor.

"Checkmate." He whispered. He unloaded his pistol. Nebraska became coated in the purple-pink paint, and screamed in rage.

"Round over. Reinstating lights and gravity." The lights flicked on and all the columns crashed to the ground. Nebraska plummeted down and groaned upon landing. Colorado landed in a kneeling position.

"A Batman pose? REALLY!? Show off." Cal said.

"You just wish you were cool enough to pull it off." Mitch sneered.

"Can I go get something to eat now!? The food in the med bay sucks!" Colorado yelled.

"Go ahead. We'll meet you there." Carolina called down, before she turned to the recruits.

"I want you all to run rounds while we eat. Every round switch up the team composition." She ordered them. They all saluted her respectfully and headed down to the training room floor.

"Think that will get Nebraska to stop being a bitch?" South asked.

"If it doesn't then we can do it again with all of us against them. And destroy her. Or lock her in a drop pod and eject her into space." Tex growled.

"Note to self, don't piss off Tex." York muttered.

"You didn't make that note after our first session with her mate?" Wyoming asked.

"Oh yeah. Then I'll just make a second one to make sure I don't forget it."

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**There you have it! Chapter 22 or 23 is going to be a special Christmas chapter, so be sure to look for that!**


	22. Chapter 22: Christmas Special!

**Well, here is the Welcome to the Freelancers Christmas Special! Hope you enjoy! Read, Review, and PM me any ideas you want or tips to improve the story! Or put them in the review. your choice.**

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Carolina led the group to their usual table, where Colorado was eating as if he hadn't had food in weeks.

"I propose we start smuggling in good food from here into the med bay whenever one of us ends up there." He said between hurried bites.

"You took the last apple!" Wash practically wailed. He sat down and started to reach for the glistening piece of fruit.

"Look how fast he's eating, Wash. Get your hand too close to the plate and he might mistake it for food and eat it." South said. She took the opportunity of him watching Colorado's tray to reach over and grab the pudding cup off of his own.

"My pudding!" Colorado stopped between bites to scowl at them. He pulled a pudding cup from his mound of food and tossed it at Wash.

"Don't ever say I didn't do anything nice for you." He muttered and started eating again. The others chuckled and started to sit down. Tex leaned across the table and snatched Wash's second pudding.

"Son ova bitch!" He whined. Tex cackled, but returned it.

"So, Christmas is coming up! Are we doing secret Santa again?" Connie asked.

"People still celebrate that?" Colorado asked, his fork pausing halfway between plate and mouth.

"Still? Wait, you KNOW what something is!?" Carolina wondered.

"Yeah. Deja taught us about it when we were kids. Said it was a very old holiday. We tried celebrating it a few times, but we didn't have very many presents to give. We shared basically everything anyway. And no one else we met really celebrated it. So I just assumed it was a dead holiday." Colorado explained.

"It definitely isn't a dead holiday. You're celebrating with us!" Connie said.

"We can pull names for the secret Santa after we finish training today. Do we have to include all the recruits?" Carolina looked at everyone's faces, hoping someone would say they could leave Nebraska out. There was a growl from Maine, and Sigma appeared.

"Agent Maine says it wouldn't be fair not to include her and give her a chance." York stared wide-eyed at the large man.

"Are you sure? She's sort of a bitch. And not the good bitch who's rough on the edges but has a bit of a nice side, like Tex." His answers were two growls, one from Maine and one from Tex.

"I do NOT have a nice side." Tex screamed, spilling her coffee on her lap.

The group finished their food, and walked back to the training room, where the recruits were just finishing up their match.

"I want a rematch, freak. Hand to hand this time." Nebraska growled as she walked up to Colorado.  
"Fine. You want to bring some backup this time?" The girl growled and stormed onto the training room floor this time. Colorado shrugged and followed after.

"Round start." Colorado smirked and stood where he was, didn't even bother raising his arms. Nebraska charged at him with a growl, and threw a heavy punch right into his midsection. He cocked his head to the side.

"Are you going to hit me or just stand there?" He asked. Nebraska growled and started throwing a rapid procession of punches. Colorado yawned. He wondered why she wasn't nearly as good at hitting as the more experienced freelancer women. Her technique wasn't THAT terrible. She threw her leg to kick him in his lower area.

"Now that's not very nice." He chastised, grabbing the limb in the air. Nebraska struggled to escape and stay balance. Colorado drew his free arm back and punched. Hard. The blow hit her helmet and sent her flying backwards. She skidded across the ground and crashed into the wall. Colorado was amazed when she shakily got up to her feet. Her visor had shattered outward and there was a major dent in the metal. She charged forward and grabbed him. The two of them somehow ended up in a clinch, even with Colorado's massive height advantage. Nebraska was trying to break his guard anyway possible. Colorado sighed and decided to end it. He threw his legs up and caught the girl in a flying arm bar. He followed the motion and pulled the girl to the ground, leaving her pinned beneath his armored legs and her arm extended in his grip.

"Round over." Colorado stood up and walked out of the room.

"Alright boys and girls! Step right up! We're doing secret Santa to celebrate the holidays. Everyone's names are in the hat. Pull one out. If you get your own, put it back." Carolina called out, waving an outdated black top hat around.

"Why the hell are you explaining how to do secret Santa?" Nebraska seethed from her corner seat. Half of her face was bruised from the fight with Colorado, but everyone assumed the bigger bruise was to her ego.

"Because some of us didn't grow up knowing about Christmas. You need to take a sensitivity sermon." North said. People took subtle glances at the blonde. He very rarely got snippy with people, and even then it was usually only in a playful way with South. Tex stood up from her seat and went up to draw a piece of paper from the hat.

"Whoever gets my name, remember this. Think of the worst way you can imagine dying. Now quadruple it. If you get me a shitty present, your fate will be ten times worse." She said before sitting back down. Next up was Newb, followed by Cal and Mitch. North and South decided to go next, and then C.T. As she sat back down she whispered to Colorado for him to go up before all the good names got taken. He sighed, but got up and pulled a piece of paper out. He looked down at the name.

_Wyoming._

Colorado sighed. He had no idea what to get for Wyoming. Soon everyone had picked a name, and people were starting to shuffle out of the room. Soon only Colorado and York were left in the room.

"So, Colorado. Have you come up with an answer to my question?" York asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea what to say. I'm still not too sure about anything besides fighting, and building stuff. But maybe you can help me figure the rest out."

"Is that a yes?"

"I guess it his." Colorado chuckled a little.

"Yes!" York cheered.

"On another note, do you have any idea what I should get?" Colorado asked as he held up the slip of paper.

"Who'd you get?"

"Wyoming, you?"

"I uh… I got Tex!" York stuttered out quickly.

"That sucks. Good luck. But what should I get Wyoming?" Colorado asked again.

"Well, Wyoming really likes hunting. And dogs." York said after a few moments of thought.

"Perfect!" Colorado said and headed for the door.

"Wait! Dogs aren't allowed on the ship! And you can't hide them either!" York called after him. After a few more seconds he added,

"Trust me, I've tried…."

A week of training hard later and it was finally Christmas Eve. The entire interior of the _Mother of Invention_ had been decked out in holiday decorations, and to celebrate the whole crew had Christmas Eve and Christmas day off. The Freelancers were all relaxing in their rec room watching old Christmas movies. Colorado was entirely entranced by the cheeriness of the movies, and the others found it quite hilarious how childlike he was acting. There was a ding from the oven in the recently added kitchen area of the rec room, and North and South rushed over to the oven and pulled out an obscenely large tray. Colorado lifted his head up and sniffed the air.

"What is that smell?" He asked, wandering over.

"Sugar cookies, our mom's secret recipe. We make them every year." North explained. Colorado gingerly grabbed one and took a large bite. He gasped as it burned his mouth, but soon he was moaning at the delicious taste.

"Best. Food. Ever." He said before grabbing more than half the cookies off the tray and running back to his seat.

"Colorado, you can't eat that many cookies. It'll make you sick!" North walked up with the rest of the cookies on a plate which he set down on the table for everyone to enjoy. To his horror Colorado was shoveling the cookies like no tomorrow and soon all the ones he had taken off the tray were gone.

"Oh-my-god-those-were-delicious-I-want-more!" Colorado ran through the sentence and lunged for the plate. Tex tore it away before he could reach it and he looked at her with a heartbroken look on his face. Everyone got up and started claiming cookies from the plate as fast as they could before he managed to take them.

"Why-are-you-all-moving-so-slow? I-mean-you-always-are-slow-because-you-don't-run-on-Spartan-time-like-I-do-but-you-seem-even-slower. Oh-god-is-this-how-Kelly-feels-all-the-time!? No-wonder-she-always-complained-about-us-being-too-slow. Why-is-the-T.V.-not-playing-fast? Did-you-put-it-on-slow-motion?" Colorado started, talking so fast his words were barely distinguishable from one another.

"He's on a sugar rush…" North muttered.

"I'm scared." Wash whimpered.

"Me too." York answered, the two trying to use one another as a human shield.

"I'm-going-to-go-see-what-479r-and-The-Director-are-doing!" Colorado yelled and ran out the room. As he left the hologram of Scythe appeared.

"What have you done? What have. You done…" Scythe asked, his artificial voice quivering in what they could only guess was fear.

An hour later Colorado came running in laughing manically. Moments later he crashed onto a couch, where he was still resting, snoring loudly.

"No one EVER give him sugar or caffeine again. EVER." Carolina said. Everyone muttered agreements and nodded.

"Are we just going to leave him here till we open presents in the morning?" York questioned.

"Unless you have an idea on how to lug an obscenely heavy giant to the dorms, yes. Dumbass." Tex muttered. York opened his mouth to respond, but decided better and closed it again. The group all got up and left the room, snickering at the loud snoring from Colorado.

Colorado awoke with a groan and a stomach ache. The rest of the Freelancers laughed at his expense, but soon they were all trading presents. North gave Tex the delivery information for a new motorcycle to replace the one she had destroyed. Tex gave Vermont a bottle of rare vodka, not knowing what he liked personally but she figured everyone liked booze. Vermont got Nebraska and gave her a card with fifty bucks in it. Nebraska gave a punching bag to Maine. Maine had to give Wash a gift, and gave him a complete set of the revised and updated field regulations and guides. Everyone got a laugh when Wash gave the same thing to Newb. She gave Carolina a present wrapped in sea foam green paper, and when she tore it open Carolina found an amazing dress of the same color. Carolina tossed a box wrapped in red paper and then sealed in hardened plastic, then chained shut with an advance lock, to York. He laughed and had the box open in a few seconds, discovering it was a new music player. York pulled a large box rapped in shiny red and green paper and handed it to Colorado. Colorado gingerly started opening it, trying to not tear the paper.

"Just tear it off!" York yelled. Colorado scowled at him, but did as instructed and ripped the paper off. He opened to box and saw two guns sitting in the box.

"Are those-"

"Yup."

"But they're not even in production yet."

"I know a guy. And you don't seem the type to want anything normal." Colorado couldn't stop staring. Inside the box rested two of the SAW light machine guns that he had been planning on buying as soon as they entered production. Colorado pulled out his own larger box, that was horribly wrapped, and handed it to Wyoming. The British man unwrapped the present and looked at the sleek, black machine inside.

"I do say, what is it Chap?" He asked.

"Cerberus, activate." Colorado instructed. The machine hummed and four limbs ejected from the body, and an angular head extended from the front, as well as a tail.

"What the hell?" Tex asked, looking at it.

"It's a dog. I got the plans from that Forerunner facility we went to. It's not nearly as good as their designs, but it can do all the normal tricks a normal dog can, and it can even help in the field. It has a miniature sniper rifle, an assault rifle, and a magnum modified inside the body. It cycles through the three and fires them through the mouth."

"Is that why you named it Cerberus?" Carolina asked.

"No… I named it Cerberus because it's a dog and we studied a lot of Greek stories when I was younger."

"It's bloody brilliant Chap. Thank you." Wyoming said.

"I want one too!" Wash said, and several other people chimed in.

"I'll see what I can do." Colorado said. Wyoming continued the present giving, handing a card with money in it to Mitch. He tossed a video game over to his brother, and Cal grabbed his present and handed it to South. She opened to box and gasped. It was a silver chained necklace with a small butterfly encrusted in sapphires. She hugged him awkwardly, before blushing and thanking him. He helped her put the necklace on, and then she handed a box to Connie. Connie giggled and opened it to see a pair of black and red high heeled shoes she had been wanting for months. She hugged her friend in thanks.

"I wasn't sure what you would like, but I really hope you like it!" Connie said cheerily and handed Hawaii a box. The petite girl opened the slim box and revealed a brightly colored bracelet of Hawaiian flowers and coconut shaped beads.

"It's gorgeous. Thanks Connie." She said with a bright smile. Hawaii gave the final present of the day to North, who opened it to reveal a stack of new comic books.

"Sweet! Thanks." He smiled at her.

"South told me which ones you liked. I wouldn't have figured it out without her." Hawaii said shyly. With the presents swapped, everyone sat down in their usual places to watch more Christmas movies, with the addition of Cerberus lying beneath Connie and Wyoming.

"Any chance of us getting more of those cookies?" Colorado asked. The rest of the room yelled their answer simultaneously,

"NO!"

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**Props to Gizmo16x for the sugar rush idea. hope you all enjoyed! Merry Christmas! (I know it's only christmas eve technically, but who cares!)**


	23. Chapter 23

**If you're reading this without reading the Christmas special chapter, go back and read it. Do it. Do it now my minions! DO IT! It's done? Ok. Then here's chapter 23 for you all. It's a long one. I had fun writing it. Humor, action, and drama! Enjoy!**

* * *

Colorado reclined against the wall as he watched the briefing on their mission.

"You will be invading a heavily fortified Insurrectionist prison facility holding civilian and UNSC war prisoners. Agents New York, South Dakota, and North Dakota will be the infiltration team and open the gates. When they're open, Carolina, Michigan, and California will lead the ODST that have been trying to get into the prison for a week now in." The Director informed. Colorado groaned.

"Is something the matter, Agent?" The Director asked angrily.

"Let's just say the ODST and Spartans aren't on the friendliest of terms. To the point they've intentionally tried to wreck missions involving us." Colorado informed him.

"That is most unfortunate news. Your AI informed me you had been upgrading your MK VI armor from your Spartan days, he quoted sentimental reasons. And you will be wearing it into the main field of the prison during the main fight for publicity, since the ODST's are escorting a camera crew for news reports. I give you full permission to do whatever is necessary to complete your mission if they provide any…unfortunate problems." The Director drawled. Colorado could only smirk.

"Gladly. Will I be entering with the infiltration team or the escort team then?"

"Neither. Agent New York will be carrying a transmitter, when he activates it you will be dropped in via drop pod to the location. After all members are in the base you are to eliminate all Insurrectionists and liberate any prisoners. Drop ship leaves in thirty minutes. Good luck agents." The Director finished and walked out of the room.

"You guys be quick about getting in there. I hate waiting in drop pods; the suspense of getting my boots on the dirt drives me nuts." Colorado said as they suited up in the locker room.

"What kind of trouble were you talking about the ODSTs?" Mitch asked Colorado.

"Bad blood between us. After we were first augmented four ODST's made a scene in the gym, instigated a fight with one of us. Two of them died, the other two were pretty bad. Never heard what happened to them. Ever since they've had a bone to pick with us, thinking we were stealing their spotlight and getting all the attention. They've sabotaged our weapons and vehicles, given us shit data that had us end up kilometers away from our destination, a few of the more radicals have gone so far as trying to hit us with warthogs and shoot us." Colorado said as he pulled on his helmet.

"Think they will try something on us?" Cal asked.

"They'll definitely pull something to try and screw me off my rhythm. It's a fifty fifty for you guys since you're not Spartans yourselves, but you are working with one. Don't worry about it though, just keep your eyes open, check your corners, and listen to Carolina. She's a damn good leader, listen to her and you'll be back here before you know it." Colorado said confidently. The two relaxed a little, but still seemed tense.

"You have to comfort first timers often?" York joked on their way down to the hanger.

"You kidding? No, the only first timers I've gone into the field with were other Spartans. But even we get nervous. Hell, my first mission John and Fred had to replace their boots three times because I kept throwing up. They had already been on a few missions so they were fine. Third worst day of my life." Colorado chuckled.

"What were the first two?" York wasn't sure Colorado would tell him, but it was worth a shot.

"The second was when they made the decision to freeze me. And the first was the day I watched thirty of my friends floating away into space. I still remember the pain of the augmentations, and I'm one of the thirty three that made it out in one piece." Colorado said somberly. York lost his smile.

"That sucks. But look at the good from those things. The nerves from your first mission lead to the adrenaline and triumph of completing it. And if you hadn't have been frozen you wouldn't have ended up in our program meeting all of us-"

"And I would've gone rampant and been scrapped." Scythe interrupted as he appeared.

"That too. And if you hadn't lost those friends, you wouldn't be a Spartan." York finished. Colorado smirked.

"I wonder what you would be like if you had been one of us. Ah hell, you would've broken out years before the augmentations." Colorado laughed, and York couldn't help but join in. They arrived in the hanger and Colorado double checked his rifle was across his back and his magnum on his hip. Satisfied, he set down the SAW in the drop pod and started to climb into the pod.

"See you ground side." York said. Colorado ran two fingers across his visor.

"What does that mean?"

"Now that would be telling. Hurry your ass up. I'm going to get bored in here." Colorado said and sealed the drop pod.

"Did you really just-"

"I think I did."

"I thought your whole Spartan sign language was reserved for Spartans. You haven't even filled me in on any of it; I had to talk to six damn AI to figure out that damn smile."

"Just because I use it doesn't mean I'm going to teach it to anyone."

"Come on! I want to know!"

"How many times have we had this conversation?" Until you magically grow a Spartan's body, I'm not going to teach you our language." The AI sighed. Colorado resigned himself to listening to the ground teams' com chatter and humming a six note tune.

"Come on York, hurry up! Sentry is on his way back by the wall. If you and South aren't in that door in fifteen seconds you're spotted." North said. He had climbed into a tree and was watching the other two at the side door.

"Almost there…Got it!" York said triumphantly. A second later an alarm sounded.

"An alarm has been sounded Agent York." Delta appeared.

"No shit, D. North, let's go!" York called. A rifle cracked and North was on his way up to the door.

"Might as well. They already knew we were here." He said about the now-dead sentry. They made their way through the facility. A large group of guards chased them into a room, which just so happened to be the gate tower.

"We got lucky. Wait, when does that ever happen?" York said as the twins barricaded the door shut.

"_What's the ETA on this gate, York?_" Carolina's voice crackled over the radio.

"Give me a minute. These guys really don't like playing nice with their toys."

"_I've got a toy for them to play with._" Colorado's voice cut through the static.

"Was that a dirty joke, Colorado?"

"_What do you mean dirty joke? I was talking about my new gun._"

"Was that another dirty joke?" York asked just of North and South.

"York, just open the damn gate." South growled as the door pushed in a little.

"Okay, okay! No need to be so testy. Jeese." York worked the controls until the gates slid open.

"Okay boys and girls. Velvet rope is down; you now have an all access pass to this club." York called over the radio.

"_Where's my damn invite!?_"

"I'm heading to the open ground where Carolina has just arrived to send it. Don't get your panties in a knot."

"_What the hell are you talking about panties? You know as well as I do any clothes besides the damn under armor suite are impossible to wear on missions._" York sighed.

"My comedy is wasted." He shook his head sadly.

"Time to go." North said and grabbed York. He pulled York after him out the window and the two crashed on the ground below, South following right after.

"Ow! I'm not Colorado, falls like that hurt!" York groaned.

"It was that or open the door for the nice men with guns." South snickered.

"On second thought, I'll live with the fall." York said as he and the twins made their way behind the barricades to the ODST force and the other Freelancer team.

"Time to call in the party favors?" York asked as he pulled out the transmitter.

"Time to call in the party favors." Carolina agreed.

"_FINALLY!_" York activated the transmitter and chucked it over the barricade.

"That was a weak throw." North said.

"You do it next time."

"_We're on a one way trip to hell! GOING DOWN!_" Colorado's voice rang through the radio, followed by giddy laughter.

"_Lord help me, I'm in the head of a madman! Someone, help me…_" Scythe whimpered.

"Are you kidding me? He can quote fucking _Aliens_ but has less than zero social or emotional capabilities?" York asked.

"_Hey! I'm working on it._" Colorado growled. The team looked up to see the fiery drop pod streaking down through the sky.

"What the hell did you order?" The leader of the ODST's growled at them.

"Just a party favor, Corporal." Carolina responded. The pod landed in the courtyard and fire ceased from the curious insurrectionists. The front blew open and Colorado jumped out.

"Spartan!" The news crew cheered.

"Son of a bitch…" The Corporal hissed. Colorado tossed two grenades at the enemy forces, and started to fire on the remaining men. He ran forward and up a wall, over the railing, and mowed down the six insurrectionists up there. The remaining Insurrectionist soldiers turned all their attention to trying to take down the legendary soldier. This left them easy pickings for the six Freelancers and soon the area was clear of hostiles. Colorado leapt over the railing and walked up to Carolina where he snapped off a crisp salute.

"At ease, Spartan." Carolina said.

"Why the hell is a Spartan here?" The Corporal growled as he stormed up.

"The UNSC takes prisoners as a top priority mission, so they sent the Freelancers. We just so happen so have a Spartan in our ranks." Carolina explained calmly.

"We don't need you, or him!" the Corporal growled.

"This is our mission. I'm the standing CO in the field and you will do as I say." Carolina growled.

"Technically, the Spartan has command, ma'am." One of the ODST's sneered.

"And we will be damned if we take orders from a Spartan." The Corporal growled, raising his assault rifle. Colorado raised his SAW to the man's head.

"Put your gun down now, Corporal, and you probably will only get a court marshal and thrown in the brig for a year. If you don't, it will be counted as an act of treason against the UNSC. Treason is punishable by death."

"Colorado, stand down." Carolina ordered, but he ignored it.

"Does Colorado really have rank on Carolina?" York asked North in a hushed whisper, their guns also raised at the ODST's, who were aiming at them.

"Hell if I know. The Director uses the Leaderboard for our ranks; I don't think we've ever been assigned an actual UNSC rank. Fuck, I don't even know if we are marines or navy." North whispered back.

"Colorado, stand down! That. Is. An. Order." Carolina growled.

"Negative Carolina." Colorado said. The switch in his head had been flipped, and he was back in full blown Spartan mode; entirely focused on the mission and strictly adhering to ranks.

"What did you say to me?" Carolina growled.

"I said Negative. I pull rank, _corporal_. Now, stand down marines." Colorado growled. York, North, and South both stared, slack jawed. Colorado flicked the safety off his gun.

"I'm going to count to three. If your guns are still raised when I say three it will be considered an act of treason and you will all be executed immediately.

One.

Two.

Thr-"

"Okay!" The Corporal said, dropping his guns. The other ODST's did the same.

"_Mother of Invention_ this is Sierra-two-eight-eight. We need personnel and transport for some marines who just committed insubordination." Colorado spoke through the radio.

"_Affirmative Sierra-two-eight-eight. Transport en route. ETA four minutes._" Colorado turned around.

"North, South, restrain the criminals. Carolina, You're in charge of the team here. Deliver them to transport. York, Cal, Mitch, on me. York take rear guard, Mitch on the left flank and Cal on the right. I've got point." Colorado lead the group into the prison. There weren't very many Insurrectionists left inside the prison, those remaining were quickly dispatched and the prisoners set free. They escorted the prisoners to the ground outside and waited for the UNSC transport to retrieve the freed prisoners. 479er appeared with her pelican not long after, and they were on their way back to the _Mother of Invention_. Colorado opened a private radio channel with Carolina.

"Carolina, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken over like that. It's just what those ODST's said and the bad blood; I just sort of lost it and fell back into my training. Following the chain of command was so deeply trained into me, and then having to keep up the Spartan thing because of those cameras, I just went with what I know. I'm really sorry." He said to her, visor facing the floorboard of the pelican.

"its fine, I understand… and I forgive you. But if you try to do it again, I will rip off your genitals and choke you to death on them." Carolina growled in response.

"Yes ma'am." Colorado said a slight quiver of horror in his voice.

"York want's to open a private channel with you." Scythe informed him as Carolina cut their channel.

"Go ahead." Colorado said. There was a slight burst of static and then York's voice was filtering through the helmet speakers.

"You were a fucking bad ass back there. That was awesome to watch."

"I didn't like it. That's not what I am anymore. I couldn't even level a gun to a damn grunt. I might still have the enhanced Spartan armor that would crush and pulverize you if you wore it, and I might have the Spartan augmentations, but I'm not a Spartan anymore. Carolina has rank, and I won't break it again."

"Still doesn't mean you aren't a bad ass." York responded. Colorado sighed.

"I've got a bad feeling you're planning something now." Colorado muttered, to laughter from York.

"Cal and Mitch are already talking of ways to get your signature and selling it." Colorado groaned.

"Great. Any chance you can get them to forget this?"

"There's not a chance in hell. So, you going to tell me what that sign was you showed me before the mission?"

"Like you said, there's not a chance in hell."

"Touché, Mr. Spartan. Touché."

* * *

**What'd you think? Well, hope you like it. If not, let me know. If so, let me know that too.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you ALL have a great day! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Colorado walked into his room to see clothes he hadn't put out on his bed next to a note.

_Put these on and meet me in your work bay. If you're not here in fifteen minutes, Tex agreed to forcibly drag you._

_-York_

Colorado cocked his eye at the note, and then scowled at the clothes. White khakis and a green button up shirt.

"Those aren't my clothes." He muttered.

"I'm guessing this is for the date you agreed to." Scythe appeared on his shoulder.

"I just got back from getting scolded by The Director though."

"Do you think Tex will care about that?"

"No…how the hell did I end up being scared of her anyway?"

"Are you kidding? I'm scared of her and I don't even have a body for her to destroy."

"Fair point." Colorado conceded and pulled on the clothes.

"These feel…wrong." He grumbled.

"Too bad. Get going. I'm in your head, which means Tex can theoretically damage me too. So MOVE!" Scythe yelled. Colorado groaned and made his way into bay seven, where York was standing against a pelican staring at a watch expectantly.

"I was about to call Tex to get you." He grinned.

"Do I really have to wear this?"

"Yes. It looks good on you."

"So is Scythe's deduction that this is our date correct?"

"Yes, sir-ee."

"So, what's the plan?"

"It's a surprise. Get in the pelican so we can go." York chuckled.

"Did you get clearance for us to leave?" York shook his head.

"Don't need it."

"Yes we do. If we leave without clearance then they won't know we left and leave us behind." Colorado scowled.

"Connie, Wyoming, Carolina, and Mitch left for their own double date. So it's all good. Let's go!" York was getting super excited and it was showing.

"Are you certified to fly one of these things?" Colorado walked down to the pelican and swiped his pistol off the table. After their last outing he wasn't leaving it behind.

"No, but how hard can it be." York called as he headed into the cockpit.

"Very hard actually. Why don't you tell me where we are going and I'll fly. I'm in no mood for crashing. Or Dying."

"It's a surprise! No flying for you."

"Then give the coordinates to Scythe and he can run autopilot there. At least he's flown before."

"Fine!" Scythe appeared and York gave him the coordinates and then walked back into the rear of the pelican. He sat down next to Colorado as the pelican dropped away with a loud thunk.

"So Carolina and Mitch?" Colorado asked.

"Yeah. I saw him ask her out. It was pretty funny. He asked all shy like, and then once he got the words out he dove over me and North on a couch to hide behind it." The two laughed and traded some other gossip from the ship on the ride to wherever they were going. The pelican landed and York practically dragged Colorado out of the ship and up to a restaurant. A man in a suite sat them at a corner booth in the dimly lit room.

"What's this?" Colorado asked as a young woman handed them the fancy menu's and walked off.

"It's a restaurant." Colorado stared at York questioningly.

"It's a building where you go to eat. Traditionally the expensive ones are where you go on dates. Or at least part of dates."

"Why-"

"Because the food is way better than we could get back on the ship, and its part of established social tradition." York explained.

"What can I get for you gentlemen to drink?" a bouncy woman skipped up. She was staring at Colorado, who started to get uncomfortable.

"I'll have a beer." York said, annoyed when the girl didn't even glance at him.

"Water please." Colorado said. The woman took her time writing down the drinks, and slowly skipped away.

"You've got an admirer." York scowled. Colorado grunted, his brows furrowing as he stared at the menu.

"I have no idea what anything is. You pick." Colorado set the menu down.

"I bet you'll like the spaghetti and meatballs. This place is known for having the best Italian food in the system." York said. He tossed his menu on top of Colorado's. The two talked casually, York trying to pull the conversation away from missions and training but it was hard when that was basically all of Colorado's knowledge. The waitress brought their drinks and seemed upset that York ordered for them both almost immediately. Colorado's nose twitched as he smelled York's beer.

"What is that?" He asked. York stopped with the glass bottle inches from his mouth and smirked.

"Here, try some." He handed the bottle over, and Colorado took a delicate sip. His face scrunched up in distaste and he handed it back.

"Alcohol is an acquired taste." York laughed.

"Who the hell keeps drinking it to acquire the taste?"

"Everyone. You will too. New Years is coming up soon, and certain people have already smuggled everything we need for the traditional party, which The Director ignores. And we've got a betting pool on how long it'll take to get you drunk." Colorado shook his head.

"Not going to happen." York started to rebut, but the waitress brought their food. She was trying obviously to flirt with Colorado and get him to pay attention to her, but he was oblivious. She stormed off in a huff, making York chuckle. He looked back from the waitress to see Colorado staring at the plate of food, his face close to tears.

"This is a joke, right? She's going to come back with more food?"

"No, you go to fancy restaurants for quality, not quantity. Just try the food, I can guarantee it'll be the best you've ever had."

"That'll just make the small amount even more upsetting." York busted out laughing, and watched as Colorado tried some of the food. His eyes lit up and he quickly devoured the rest of his food. Not wanting to keep someone waiting, York followed suite, but started to get full with a quarter of his plateful of food left. He offered it, and his large companion gladly accepted, inhaling the food. York paid the check, having to explain the process to a confused Colorado. He gave the waitress the shittiest tip he had ever given, annoyed at her for so openly hitting on his date, and the two made their way back to the Pelican. They joked on the ride back to the _Mother of Invention_, and once back aboard headed for the dorms. They were walking down the hall when Colorado suddenly stopped.

"Why is there a sock in Carolina's door? And what are those noises coming from her room?" He asked. York smirked before banging on the door and yelling, "GET SOME CAROLINA!" there was a growl from within the room.

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU YORK!" York giggled and pushed Colorado further down the hall.

"What was-"  
"Ask Carolina to explain it to you in the morning." Colorado shrugged. York thought to himself 'What the hell.' And pulled the giant man down a bit to give him a quick kiss.

"What-" York pointed up at the roof of the hallway where a little plant was hanging.

"Mistletoe." York smirked at his genius.

"Dawwwww!" a girl's voice sounded. York scowled.

"Who?" Colorado pointed behind York and to his right. York turned to see Connie peeking out of her door.

"Gossip for the table tomorrow!" She squealed.

"The better story is in Carolina's room." York grumbled. He bid both C.T. and Colorado goodnight and went into his room. Colorado did the same and lay down to a jumble full of insanity in his brain.

"Carolina, why was there a sock closed in your door last night?" Colorado asked as he sat down to the table, not noticing the stifled laughter of the others or the crimson blush coloring Carolina's cheeks, and the cheeks of Mitch sitting next to her.

"She was gettin some!" York chortled, ducking the biscuit that flew at his head.

"The sock is used as a do not disturb sign, which SOME people apparently ignore," Carolina glared daggers at York.

"Why didn't you want to be disturbed? And what exactly were you getting?" All the male freelancers busted out laughing in hysterics at this point.

"She was getting laid." Tex said. Colorado looked between the two girls.

"You DO know what sex is, right?" Tex asked, amused.

"Yes, we learned about the necessity and general systems for human breeding. But I don't see why you would be trying to make a child when you're an active field agent." Carolina slapped her hand to her face.

"Of all the crazy shit we do, I NEVER expected having to explain getting laid to a full grown giant of a man." She muttered. Tex just laughed and went on to explain it to him, not sugar coating her words and being as blunt as possible. Colorado looked around at everyone at the table in shock.

"Sex is actually a highly useful concept in the program. It is a well-established way to de-stress and release hormone buildups, as well as provide a good workout." Delta appeared on York's shoulder.

"..How did we manage to pull the one AI at the table that is strictly logic and has no concept in human emotions into a conversation about sex?" North asked.

"I was only trying to assist in explaining the usefulness of non reproductional intercourse to Agent Colorado." Delta explained.

"…My sex life has now become a public matter… where's the mission debriefing for me to kill something when I need it?" Carolina groaned.

* * *

**Poor Carolina lol! Anyway, one of the things I really want to improve on is my portrayal of dating and relationships, one more reason why I added the new OC's to toy around with and the Colorado/York pairing, so I can get some experience writing anything that comes into my skull deccently. So any and ALL advice in that field is MUCH appreciated. As always, read, review, and message me! Love hearing from you!**

**On another note, Agent Colorado and Scythe are making an appearance in Gizmo16x's story "The New Freelancer" Over in the Halo & Redv vs Blue Xover section, so be sure to go and read it! Again, hope you all have a good Christmas! Tata for now! =P**


	25. Chapter 25

**Here you all go! Chapter 25, and the first part of the new year's eve chapter dual upload! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Tell me again why I'm stuck on this god forsaken glacier of a planet with you for two more days." Tex growled as she stormed into the cave she and Colorado had used to establish as their camp for this recon mission. Colorado was sitting on an empty crate, poking at their fire a few meters from the pelican. His helmet was resting by his feet and an empty plate nearby showed he had just finished eating.

"Because the recon we are supposed to be doing is too important for The Director to send anyone but the number one here. And I'm here because apparently he isn't a dog person."

"What did you expect? You built a robot dog and designed it to piss coolant! The thing doesn't even need coolant! And it did it right on The Director's shoes."

"I was going for realism!"

"Fucking idiot! Your turn to go sit in the snow and watch those cock-biting fucktards." Tex growled. She shoved Colorado off his crate and into the snow, before she sat down in his place. Colorado scowled and tossed a handful of snow at her, before donning his helmet. He opened the black gun case and pulled out the modified sniper rifle, glad to finally be able to use the weapon again. With both North and Wyoming preferring the weapons, he didn't get to use it much anymore. He plodded out into the snow and relaxed over the ridge, looking down at the Insurrectionist facility below. He didn't get why this facility on an otherwise abandoned planet was such a big deal. It wasn't even that well equipped. He was pretty sure the recruits would be able to clean out the base on their own; any of the leaderboard Freelancers would be able to clean the base on their own.

A few hours later Colorado shifted a bit to shake the gathering snow off his back. His watch was almost over and soon Tex would take over and he could get some shut eye.

"Anything interesting?" Colorado almost blinked an amber light at her, but stopped himself at the last second. Those were meaningless to the Freelancers.

"Negative. Unless you count six of them getting on snowmobiles for patrol and still being out. Fifteen minutes later than previous patrols." He stood up and jostled the snow off his armor.

"Movement detected. Three incoming." Scythe reported from his appearance on Colorado's shoulder.

"Something wicked this way comes. Have fun, Tex." Colorado slung his rifle over his back and stepped off the ridge.

"Son of a bitch." Tex muttered as she turned to the three snowmobiles.

"Freeze! Move and we will shoot." One of the men said.

"Put your weapon on the ground, man. We don't want to shoot you." Another said.

"Which is it, put the weapon down or don't move? Assholes can't even give orders right." Tex sneered.

"Um, well, both?" One of the men stuttered, slightly lowering his weapon. Tex caught movement from behind him. An olive green armored arm reached around and slit the man's throat, before quickly moving to the next and snapping his neck. The remaining four turned in time to see a knife making its way up into the thirds jaw. Tex shot the remaining three in the back as they started to raise their guns on Colorado.

"And here I thought you had left me here. How did you-"

"Forced my hands into the ice partway down and climbed up and over to sneak up on them. So, since they're dead and will be missed can we go topple the castle? I'm bored with the snow." Colorado leaned down and cleaned his knife off on the coat of one of the men.

"Might as well." Tex sighed. They walked towards the snowmobiles where Tex stopped. She turned and shot one of the men in the crotch. Colorado winced.

"Why did you do that?"

"He reminded me of my ex."

"Where's he buried?"

"He's not dead. Just thought it'd be fun. It was." She almost giggled. They both got on separate snowmobiles and started down towards the facility.

"So, were you close with him like C.T. and Wyoming?"

"We weren't the cuddle up together type, but we almost got married. But I joined Project Freelancer and we broke up."

"So, how do you know when you like someone?"

"All the shitty songs make sense. Why?"

"I don't know. It just seems lately that I've started feeling a bunch of weird things I can't explain or understand. I'm trying to piece together all the emotions, and it seems attraction is the one that no one is able to explain right."

"I would suggest you go to C.T. for help, but I assume you already went to her, and her answer was to force you into watching a romance movie marathon right?"

"I told you about how painful the Spartan augmentations were right?"

"Yeah and how the only thing worse was what the Covies did to you."

"If given the option of the augmentations again or another marathon, I'd choose the augmentations." Tex laughed.

"I wish Church had had that kind of attitude." After that silence befell them as they approached the facility. They killed the snowmobiles out of hearing distance from the facility, and hoofed it to the wall. Colorado turned his back to the alloy wall and interlaced his fingers. Tex ran at him and when she stepped into his hands he lifted, throwing her gliding over the wall.

"I almost feel bad for these poor bastards." He muttered as he walked away, then sprinted and scaled over the wall easily. Tex was dealing with a dozen men in the courtyard, but she seemed to be doing okay. Colorado grabbed the sniper rifle from his back and scoped in on the sentry towers. They were cloaked in shadows, no lights, just pitch black. His rifle cracked twice per tower, only pausing to reload, and then he jumped down into the courtyard, where Tex was just finishing up the last of her soldiers.

"What the hell were you shooting at, fairies?" She asked.

"They had snipers in the towers."

"How did you see them? That scope you have on that rifle doesn't offer thermal or night vision, and its pitch black up there."

"Built in night vision. Perks of being augmented." Colorado laughed as they opened the door to the facilities main bunker.

"Ho-ly shit. Is that…"

"Covenant corpses on autopsy tables." Scythe answered Tex before she could finish her question. Tex started into the room, and was three tables deep before she turned to see Colorado frozen at the door.

"Colorado, you ok?" She asked.

"I-I can't go in there." He stuttered after he snapped his head in a jerky shiver, before he turned and rushed out of sight of the door. Tex sighed, but followed him. She found him on his knees at the facilities main gate, shaking, with his helmet thrown down in a snow drift and vomit steaming in the snow before him.

"They're just corpses, Colorado. They can't do anything to you. I'll go in and grab the data; you go back to camp and pack up. When you're done just fly the pelican here and we can go. Maybe their warehouse will have something worth commandeering too." Tex said. Colorado nodded, before pulling his helmet back on and leaving to return to their camp.

"She's alright once you get to know her." Scythe remarked.

"Yeah. But still terrifying." Colorado said absently.

"Oh, of course she is."


	26. Chapter 26: New Year's Special!

**Here's part 2 of the New Year's Eve double upload! so if you didn't read part one, go back and read it! That done? No? Don't make me sick Tex on you. That got you to go back? Ok. Since you read that now you can enjoy the holiday special! Enjoy!**

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Colorado snapped awake as his door slid open. He lunged for the pistol by his most recently acquired alarm clock on the end table. The safety clicked off as he aimed and realized it was just the other Leaderboards crowding around his door.

"Get up! We're starting the New Year's Eve party!" Wash yelled. Colorado glared at all of them in their sweats and pajama clothes.

"It's 0600. Unless there's a mission or we're being shot at I'm going back to bed." Colorado growled. He flicked the safety back on and tossed the gun back to his nightstand.

"What's up with the crowd? You're in the way of the toilet. If I don't get through I'm taking my morning leak in one of your rooms." Monty yawned. The other five new recruits started to pile into the blocked up hallway.

"Did someone TP Colorado's room!? I wanna see!" Mitch called, trying to force his way through the crowd.

"Colorado get your ass up. I have no problem kicking your ass on a holiday." Tex growled. He wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but decided it wasn't worth the risk. He grumbled as he pulled himself out of bed.

"Wow, no modesty from you is there." South snickered.

"What're you talking about?" Colorado asked, and then noticed the gawking faces of the recruits at his plasma scarred body. He scowled at the recruits and pulled on his standard black shirt and some grey sweats.

"What are all those scars from?" Hawaii asked. Even covered the recruits still didn't break their gaze from where the scars were.

"I don't feel like going into it. If you're really that curious get your hands on my file; these clowns did." Colorado growled, only half joking.

"We said we were sorry about it !"

"I know. So what's this wonderful party you've got setup." Wash lead the group out of the hallway, with only a small pile up happening in the door out of Colorado's room as multiple people tried to use it at the same time, and then down to one of the large, empty storage bays towards the bottom of the _Mother of Invention_. Colorado looked around the room. The couches and recliners from the Rec room had been moved down, and the room was covered in decorations. He saw the crates of Covenant tech he and Tex had recovered under a white cloth with a huge variety of food and drinks laid out on top. He scowled at the thought of that mission; how weak he must have looked to Tex.

"So what's the plan for this party? Since I remember you explaining that the point of New Year's happens at midnight."

"We are going to have a zombie marathon! And play the headshot game!" York cheered.

"Every time in the movies and shows we watch a zombie gets killed by a headshot on the first hit it takes someone takes a shot. After they take a shot the next one goes to the person next to them, and so on until everyone's had a shot and it restarts." North explained before Colorado could ask.

"Why? That sounds like no fun at all."

"You'll see. We've got video cameras set up so we can watch the madness tomorrow. If any of us feel up to getting out of bed." Wash said. Colorado shrugged as everyone started sitting down in their most recently established 'usual' areas. C.T. and Wyoming cuddling on a loveseat together, North and South sitting on a couch together and going back and forth moving so their legs were on top of the others, Carolina sat on Mitch's lap in a recliner, Wash and Maine sat on opposite sides of the second couch with Wash on the side closest to Newb's recliner, which was next to all the other new recruits' recliners. Tex had her own recliner on the other side of the mass of furniture, away from the recruits. Colorado sat down on the third and final couch after York.

Six movies in the party had reached insane. A massive food fight had erupted, covering most of the room in chips, globs of dip, and various other party snacks. Carolina and Mitch had started making out two movies back, and everyone besides Colorado and Tex were wasted. The former two were only moderately buzzed.

"I'm surprised you aren't passed out drunk! This being your first time and all." Tex laughed.

"Must be the Spartan thing. Shit still tastes like…well, shit." Colorado started laughing.

"Don't go into the hospital you dumb broad!" Colorado yelled, startling York into throwing his cup of beer all over North and South.

"Son of a bitch!" South growled, which went unheard as everyone else (save Colorado) yelled, "PARTY FOUL!"

"My beer!" York cried.

"I told her not to go in there! Now the zombies munching on her face." Colorado said.

By the time the ball was about to drop in New York back on Earth even Tex and Colorado were in full inebriation, and everyone else had passed out.

"Time to fuck with the ass-hats!" Tex giggled. She pulled out a sharpie and started writing on everyone's faces, except for York.

"Dammit! Smart bastard…" She muttered.

"Whut?" Colorado asked from drunkenly starring at the news feed.

"He took his shoes off! That means he's sleeping, not passed out. You can't fuck with someone when they're sleeping, only passed out." Tex whispered. She sighed and put the sharpie away, before she went to wake everyone up for the countdown. She stifled laughter as she saw Colorado hurriedly checking to take his own shoes off.

"Now coming to you live from New York for the ball drop…"An announcer's voice blared over the TV.

"Who said my name!?" York looked around. Colorado looked around confused as everyone started counting and the TV showed a ball sliding down a pole, and then it stopped as everyone in the room yelled, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Colorado awoke with a groan to something struggling beneath him. He moaned, bringing his hands up to rub his temples in an attempt to alleviate the headache.

"Colorado! Get off! Please!" a voice whispered. Colorado looked down, suddenly realizing he was passed out on- and possibly crushing- York. He sat up, wincing from his headache at the movement, and glared at York's whispered thanks. The whole room gradually started to rouse, everyone groaning and complaining about sore heads and other muscles from awkward sleeping locations. Wash gingerly got up and plugged in the cameras from the video of the night before, fast forwarding through most of the footage till where Colorado became obviously drunk. He checked the time stamp in the corner.

"Damn. 2106, Maine wins." He groaned. Maine growled triumphantly, the room wincing in pain at the noise.

"That's right. Pay up." Sigma appeared and interpreted, receiving even more winces at the disturbing echo from his voice. If Colorado wasn't in so much pain and didn't know any better, he would've thought he saw the AI smirk.

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**Alrighty, hope you enjoyed! Be sure to read and review, and/or PM me with any and everything you wish to say pertaining to the story. I've had a lot of requests for more Tex, so I'll be involving her more, and this was just the start of it. Anyway, Happy New Year's Eve! I'll try (and probably will succeed) at uploading another chapter or two tomorrow for the holiday, but it/they won't be holiday specials.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Here you all go! Chapter 27 of the story, and chapter 1 of the New Year! Enjoy!**

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"We have to what!?" Wash exclaimed. He was staring at Carolina, who was standing in front of the rec rooms TV, where everyone else was relaxing after a hard day of training. They had spent the entire previous day nursing their hangovers, and those who had been drawn on by Tex spending a fair amount of time trying to wash the sharpie from their faces.

"We're approaching Reach, and The Director said the _Mother of Invention_ is getting an overhaul for a week or two, so we won't be aloud onboard. So he's giving us the time off to visit the planet; we only have to take the Covenant weapons Tex and Colorado found to CASTLE base. Though he did say we could take some for ourselves." Carolina explained fully, having previously only said they'd be getting a week or two off of the ship.

"CASTLE base? Are you sure he said CASTLE and not Sword?" Colorado leaned forward from his seat beside York.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why?"

"CASTLE base was where I finished training post augmentation. And we trained not too far from there. I know that area like the back of my hand. I can take you guys camping in the forests where we spent a lot of time training." Colorado said, excited. He wondered if any of the other Spartans would be in CASTLE base. He hadn't had any contact with anyone since he had been forced by them into cryo. He guessed Dr. Halsey would still be working there, and if he couldn't find any of his old comrades he knew she would be able to fill him in on what they had been up to.

"That could actual be some fun. I've never been camping." Carolina said.

"It'll be great. We can go Moa hunting too!"

"Hunting? I'm in for a bit of sport." Everyone agreed to the idea, and made their way down to the storage bay where they had had their party.

"How the hell did the Insurrectionists get this many Covenant weapons? That crate of plasma grenades is mine. As are these energy swords." Colorado tossed the large crate of grenades and the tiny crate holding six energy swords onto a dolly.

"This is the worst gun ever! I tried to use one on the sarcophagus mission, the shit bounces! What kind of crap is that?" Wash asked, pulling a fuel rod canon from a crate.

"Fuel rod. Those things suck. The better ones are attached to Hunters, but I've yet to see anyone get their hands on one of those ones." Colorado explained.

"These are kinda cool. What are they?" Tex asked as she pulled a few spikey rods from a crate.

"I've only read about them. Spike grenades, used by a Covenant race that started appearing in combat long after I was put in cryo. The spikes stick into targets and then it explodes, the spikes flying out like our frag grenades." Tex's face broke into a malicious grin and she moved the crates of the grenades onto the dolly.

"What're these?" Carolina asked. Colorado looked to see her holding a pair of plasma rifles.

"Hinge-head plasma rifles. Consider them an in between of the SMG and the assault rifle. That you can dual wield." The red head smirked and placed a few onto the dolly.

"Grab a few of those plasma pistols." Colorado instructed as he started digging through a crate.

"Why?" Wash asked.

"As far as guns go, they're complete garbage. So much so that I've only seen grunts and jackals use them. But if you overcharge them the plasma shot has a slight tracking effect and kills our shields, or acts as a temporary EMP against vehicles. One of the other Spartans figured out you could overcharge the plasma pistol and take out a shield, then quickly switch to another gun and destroy the target." A few of them were added to the groups pile and Colorado turned to see Carolina holding a giant metal bat looking thing.

"What in god's name is that?" He asked.

"I don't know, but I like it." She added it atop the dolly, the crown jewel atop their pile of destruction.

"It's so big." Colorado said in awe; the weapon was almost as big as he was.

"That's what he said." York muttered to North, who attempted (unsuccessfully) to repress a laugh.

"I'll go take what we're keeping to the armory, and I'll meet you all in bay seven." Colorado said.

"Why don't we just go to the main bay and get a ride groundside from 479er?" Wash asked.

"You know how pilots get a little obsessively attached to their birds?" Colorado asked. Everyone nodded.

"Well the one part of the overhaul I know about involves replacing all the pelicans with the upgraded versions I've been testing in my bay. Which means 479er will be having her pelican taken away."

"So, all in favor of avoiding her until we absolutely have to see her?" North stated. There was a unanimous chorus of agreements.

Not long after, all sixteen were riding two pelicans down to Reach. Colorado had insisted on them all wearing their armor to CASTLE base, and they could remove it when they arrived in the wilderness to set up camp. Colorado was piloting the pelican carrying the tech, with Scythe piloting the one carrying the camping equipment, the recruits, C.T., and Wyoming.

"CASTLE base, this is agent Colorado from Project Freelancer, requesting permission to land for Covie tech delivery." He said over the radio.

"Permission granted, Agent." A voice responded.

"Why didn't you use your call sign?" York asked from the copilot's seat.

"Because I'm going to win this time. We've never beaten her at this game, hell we rarely beat her at all. I'm going to take the victory." Colorado said. York scowled at him, believing the Spartan may have gone insane. Colorado landed and the freelancers aboard his pelican started to make their way into CASTLE base.

"Are you the delivery team from _Mother of Invention_?" a woman asked at a gate.

"Affirmative." Colorado said.

"Good. Through the gate and to your left is a lift. Take it down to Level Scarlet. I'll give you a NAV point to lead you to Dr. Halsey's office for delivery." The woman said and opened the gate. Colorado hurried them through and onto the lift.

"Calm down, why are you so excited?" North asked.

"The longer it takes us to get there the more time she has to win. She won't win." Colorado giggled mischievously. The lift arrived and Colorado led the way to the NAV marker. The door opened and Colorado glimpsed the woman he hadn't seen since before he had been put in cryo. She was hunched over a data pad, with papers strewn about her messy office and cups of cold coffee scattered around.

"Yes, what is-oh! Well look at that." She said as she turned around and saw the armored giant surrounded by Freelancers.

"No, it can't be. They would've told me. But it's unmistakable. Kale?" the asked, walking up and inspecting him.

"How? How do you always know? I was supposed to win this time." Colorado groaned and pulled his helmet off his head.

"Well it's good to see you too. Apparently your cryo didn't do anything for your manners."

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Colorado said. He hung his head down in shame.

"How long have you been up? And why weren't you reassigned to your team?" Halsey asked, taking a sip from a cup.

"They didn't tell you? I assumed if anyone would've been handed the research project it would have been you, ma'am." Colorado said wide-eyed.

"What are you talking about?"

"May I see your data pad please, ma'am?" Colorado asked. She handed him the pad from her desk and he typed in a few rapid commands. After a moment he handed the pad back. Dr. Halsey read through it, her face expressing extreme anger as she finished reading the full incident report of the boarding of _The Caribbean_, the torture and experimentation, the medical procedures to see what had been done to him and the crew, followed by the entire debriefing of the events on Fervirnos.

"They didn't inform me of _any _of this? Of how one of MY Spartans was captured and tortured, and then don't even have me help stabilize you! And then they handed the Forerunner relic over to some fools who are bumbling in the dark with things they couldn't possibly understand?" Halsey seethed.

"They swore they would give it to you. I insisted. I knew you would be the one who could get the most from the relic, ma'am." Colorado said.

"Why's Colorado acting so weird? He's never this respectful. What's so special about her?" Wash whispered to Maine.

"Dr. Halsey is the one who gave me my purpose, Wash. She is one of the only non-Spartan people each of us trusts with our lives." Colorado growled, causing Wash to stare at the ground sullenly.

"So, you can't fight Covenant anymore? That's… interesting." Halsey muttered.

"He can't even be around their corpses. We found an insurrection base with some on autopsy tables and he froze, then ran out and puked in the snow. That was the mission a few days ago; it's where we got this tech for you." Tex indicated their delivery. Colorado turned his head and glared at her. She had promised not to mention it; both of them had left that fact out of their mission reports.

"That's definitely an unfortunate turn of events. I'll have to look and see if there is any way to reverse the effects. I'll have to get my hands on that artifact. That shouldn't be too hard. There are some favors an admiral owes me. So where have you been assigned then?"

"I've been transferred to Project Freelancer, aboard the _Mother of Invention_." Halsey scowled.

"I'll meet you guys back at the drop ship. I need to have a private conversation with Dr. Halsey." York started to protest, but Colorado sent him a look that stopped the words on his tongue. The other Freelancers walked out and Colorado turned back to Halsey.

"Ma'am, are there any Spartans here on Reach? I haven't had any contact with someone since…you know." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"You just missed them, they left for a mission last night." Colorado's shoulders slumped and his face dropped down a little.

"Could you please tell them I'm sorry. Especially to Fred." He whispered.

"Why don't you tell them yourself?"

"Spooks said I wasn't to initiate contact with anyone from the program, even you, or else they'd toss me back into a freezer. But you've always kept contact with us, and now you know I'm up and about I don't see any reason why I couldn't keep in contact with you."

"Always finding a way around the rules. Just make sure you keep following my rules." Halsey chided sternly, but with a smile.

"I would never, ma'am." Colorado said with mock indignation.

"I suggest you go back to your new team now." Colorado nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. And Doctor…" Colorado turned his head to look back into her office.

"Yes, Kale?"

"Thank you." He turned and walked back to the lift out.

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**I REALLY hope you all enjoyed this guest appearance by Dr. Katherine Halsey, and I hope I did her character justice in my portrayal. Please Read, Review, and PM me your thoughts and ideas! Happy New Year!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Here's chapter 28! It's a bit more of a laughy chapter. Next chapter will be back to the action. Anyway, Enjoy! Be sure to read, review, and PM me your thoughts and suggestions!**

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Colorado strode up the ramp into the pelican and went straight to the front for the pilot's seat. He entered a few commands and the pelican roared to life, lifting into the sky.

"So, who exactly is she? You said she gave you your purpose, and was one of the only non-Spartans you all trust. What did you mean by that?" York asked from the seat beside him.

"She was the head of the Spartan program. She's the one who picked each of us, the one who watched over us all those years. The armor you all wear is a downgraded version we Spartans wear, designed by her. The best way I can explain it is that we see her as a mother." Colorado explained.

"That's why you almost bit off Wash's head." York chuckled.

"Yeah. Hey, Scythe, investigate through COMs, make sure no training is the Military Wilderness Training Preserve." Colorado said. There were a few seconds before the AI's voice crackled over the radio.

"Nothing planned until we will be back aboard the _Mother of Invention_. Would you like me to put a note in saying Project Freelancer is using the preserve?"

"Go ahead." A while later Colorado and Scythe landed the pelicans in a clearing.

"Why did you pick here?" York asked as everyone started unloading the gear and setting up the tents.

"This was the clearing one of our training missions involved. We were each given different map pieces and had to get to this clearing, and the last one here would have to walk home. We almost had to kill the marines guarding the pelican here, but commandeered it and everyone got back together. That was the mission that got our squad leader his promotion." Colorado smiled as he ran a hand across a tree that still had marks from the fight all those years ago.

"Tents are up. We only had eight, so everyone's going to have to buddy up." C.T. remarked as they looked at the black and orange fabric buildings.

"Well its obvious C.T. and Wyoming are going to pair up, as are Carolina and Mitch." North started.

"And Colorado and I can share. No jokes from anyone!" York growled.

"Can I make a joke?" Colorado asked.

"Depends, do you know any jokes that can be made?"

"No not really."  
"Then go ahead." Tex grinned maliciously and leaned over to whisper something to Colorado.

"What do you mean? I don't see how that could be a joke, or why he would do that. My pants are obviously too big for any of you." York's eyes went wide and his cheeks flushed red.

"Tex!" He growled. Colorado confusedly watched York and Tex trade insults, and then soon everyone else started pairing off. North and South were going to share, with Hawaii and Newb together, Tex with Nebraska, Cal and Monty, and Wash with Maine.

"Just a heads up, there are wolves in this forest, so be careful. And if you see a Guta, don't try to get close. In fact, just run." Colorado said after they all tossed their gear into their tents.

"A whata?" Newb asked.

"Guta. Giant species indigenous to Reach. Very mean, strong, and dangerous. Their roar is so strong it can throw a fully armored Spartan II away." Colorado explained. With the camp set up everyone bid one another goodnight and entered their tents.

York woke up and looked to see Colorado sleeping with his sleeping bag pulled up over his head. York smirked at the odd way for someone to sleep, and then decided to go get some breakfast. He tried to pull down the zipper to the tent, but it was stuck.

"What the hell?" He wondered, tugging hard on the zipper. It was pointless. Someone had glued the zipper shit from the outside.

"Hey! This isn't funny! Open the damn tent!" He yelled. Colorado jerked awake behind him.

"What the hell is going on!? I thought the constant rude awakenings from sleep would stop after training. I need one of the damn shock batons." Colorado groaned.

"We thought you two could use some extra alone time." Tex snickered from outside the tent.

"Well I'm hungry! Let us out!" York demanded.

"Food sounds good." Colorado said. After almost ten minutes of demanding, pleading, bribing, and begging, Tex used the solvent on the zipper to remove the glue. Colorado and York grabbed what was left of the breakfast. Everyone armored up and set off into the forest.

"So what are the rules for our hunt today?" South asked.

"We all keep on our private team radio channel, and everyone picks their own spot to try and take down a bird. You can build traps, set bait, whatever you want to try to catch one as long as you don't use guns. First one to kill a Moa call it out and the hunts over for the day. We can bring it back to camp and have a nice dinner." Colorado said. Everyone traded looks and bolted deep into the forest.

The day was spent in the forest, interrupted only by the occasional curse when a moa escaped or someone ran into another freelancers trap.

"Who the hell found the time to dig a pit trap!" Carolina yelled. Colorado listened to the entire teams' laughter echo over the radio.

"That's mine. On my way to get you out." He said. He had to jog for five minutes and found the sea foam green armored woman staring up at him from his trap.

"How the hell did you find the time to dig this?" She asked as he reached down to grab her hand.

"I work fast." He said simply.

"Any other traps I should worry about?" Carolina looked at him and he knew she was scowling behind her helmet, which ironically looked like it was scowling too.

"There are a handful of snares around her. If you find yourself hanging from one leg upside down then you've found one." He laughed.

"I hate you." She responded before jogging off.

That night they all sat around the fire after eating their moa. South had been the one to make the catch, jumping out of a tree onto the bird as it had been fleeing from Tex.

"Time for s'mores!" Wash pulled out a bag of food and started passing it around. Colorado cocked his head in confusion as Maine handed him some of the food. York instructed him how to combine them, and soon after Colorado was munching on the s'more. He scowled. He opened his mouth to talk but found the food was sticking together, making his ability to speak nonexistent. He tried swallowing but the food refused to go down. He tried talking, making grunting noises to get attention, and panic appeared in his eyes.

"Swallow your food, Colorado." C.T. said, not looking at him. He grunted again.

"What's wrong?" North asked, looking over at him. Colorado pointed at his mouth and grunted.

"Maine!" North and York yelled in unison. The Freelancer started laughing his terrifying growl of a laugh.

"His first s'more? Really? What'd you do to it?" York asked. Maine tossed a bag labeled 'sticky marshmallows' advertising to be used for pranking.

"How do we get it out of his mouth?" North asked. Maine pointed to some of the print on the bag.

"It doesn't dissolve for an hour! Who designs this shit?" North asked.

"More importantly, how did I not think of it first?" York wondered. Colorado scowled and shoved him down.

"What was that for!?" Colorado stared at him and waved his arms to say "are you stupid? I can't talk!"

Later that night, well after everyone had fallen asleep, York shook Colorado awake.

"Let's get Tex back for her zipper stunt."

"What about Maine? I still have that crap stuck to the roof of my mouth." Colorado said.

"We can get him too. Are there any skunks in this forest?" Colorado thought back to his training in the area.

"Yeah." He said finally.

"Perfect. D, use scanners and find us the two closest skunks."

"York, I do not see why you would find any usefulness of those animals, and I do not believe it is logically a good idea to prank agents Texas and Maine back. Historically, the eye for an eye system only creates more problems than it-"

"I don't care, D. Just find us the skunks." York sighed. York dragged Colorado with him into one of the pelicans, where they both donned their armor. Partway through Delta appeared and informed them of the skunks' locations. The two snuck into the forest and spent almost an hour in the dirt trying to catch the weasel-relatives.

Once the two animals were captured, they snuck back into camp and threw them into the tents of their targets, then ran back into one of the pelicans to lock it shut. There were muffled screams and growls from the camp and everyone started to wake to see what all the trouble was.

"I'm going to kill them!" Tex's growl could be heard through the drop-ship, though it did nothing to stop York and Colorado from laughing hysterically. Maine, Nebraska, and Tex started banging angrily on the pelican in an attempt to get in, while Wash was complaining of the cruelty of being an innocent casualty in their horrible prank.

"Well, it was nice knowing you, York. Once Tex gets in here we're dead." Colorado said.

"It was worth it." York responded.

"Definitely."

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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also, be sure to check out gizmo16x's story "The New Freelancer" in the Halo & RvB crossover section and UnknownNemesis98's story "Red vs Blue: Authors Edition" as Agent Colorado will be appearing in those stories and both are very interesting reads.**


	29. Chapter 29

Colorado flopped down onto his bed, both he and the mattress groaning at the impact.

"I think Tex bruised the bruises on my bruises." He muttered to himself. She had gotten them when York opened the door to go to the bathroom. He shivered at the memories of her revenge. She had hit York in the back of the head, knocking him out. She stripped him of his armor and tied him to a tree, covered in honey, and thrown a bee hive at him. She had been much more violent with Colorado. Scythe had gladly helped, rebooting his armors systems so Colorado couldn't move. Paralyzed, he could do nothing but watch as Tex kicked him around the forest. Multiple trees had fallen from impact. The rest of the camping trip had been prankless, with York nursing his stings and Colorado his still present bruises.

"Wait a minute… this isn't my bed. Why is this bed in my room?" He said after five minutes. He had suddenly realized his feet were hanging off the end of the bed. He stood up with a groan and looked around his room. While they were gone it had suddenly gotten bigger, and now had two beds in it, both small like the one he had just got off. He slowly walked out into the hall and looked at the name tags by the door.

_Agents Maine and Washington_.

"F.L.I.S.S., what happened to my room?" Colorado asked.

"All agents have had their rooms combined and given roommates to save space. Your room has been moved across the hall of your previous one." Colorado shrugged and looked at the indicated door, which only had his name on the name tag. He walked into the room and lay on the bed farthest from the door, glad to have a properly sized bed again.

"Agents Texas and Colorado report to the briefing room." F.L.I.S.S. called. A groan of frustration escaped Colorado before he put his armor back on and made his way to the briefing room.

"Agents, a group of Insurrection terrorists have managed to take over _The Babylon_. They've disabled all the powered lights on the ship, and have thrown all of the crew into the ships brig. They are demanding safe passage out of system with the ship within the next three hours, or they will execute their prisoners and fire the MAC on New Alexandria. A team of ODSTs were sent to retake the ship, but have dropped out of contact. You two are going to be retaking the ship. 479er will get you as close as possible, but you will need to use jetpacks the rest of the way. That ship was just loaded with a supply of nukes to be delivered to one of our fleets about to enter combat with Covenant forces. Do not fail this mission. Dismissed." The Director drawled. Colorado went down to bay seven to grab his gear. He slid all the weapons into their usually places and walked up to the armory, where Tex was gearing up. He clipped one of the energy swords onto his leg and some of the plasma grenades to his belt as Tex was gearing up with a handful of the spike grenades, a magnum, and a shotgun. Colorado opened a wall panel and pulled out a stack of Warning yellow trimmed in black sniper rifle ammo clips.

"What are those?" Tex asked as he slid one into his rifle and the others into an ammo pouch.

"Very nasty pieces of work." Colorado answered as they walked out of the room.

"What do they do?"

"Let's hope I don't have to show you, and leave it at that." They walked into the hanger and Colorado noticed all the other Freelancers standing around the room. There was a hiss and a pop over his helmet speakers.

"Be careful, Colorado." York's voice came through the speakers. It made him smirk.

"I'll be fine, unless you pranked Tex while I wasn't looking. Don't let anyone blow up the ship while we are on it. Watching and causing explosions is plenty fun; being in them not so much." Colorado joked.

"No pranks from me. I wait at least till wounds of punishment are healed before undertaking new endeavors." York answered. Colorado and Tex stepped onto the pelican, and they were soon dropping away from the ship and flying through space.

"The ODST squad left a hanger open, I'll get you as close to the opening as possible. But you'll have to close it to move any further into the ship." 479er called back to them. Soon she was yelling at them to jump out. They did, and crashed into the open bay.

"Grav boots enabled." Scythe informed him. Colorado nodded and walked over to the nearest terminal.

"Scythe, close the hanger bay and see if you can disable the MAC and FTL drive. Don't let the Insurrectionists know you're in the system." Colorado said as he inserted the AI.

"Do you even have to say don't let them know? I was designed to help you with cyber warfare and hacking COVENANT systems. Outdated systems like this ship has are a cakewalk." Scythe sighed as the hanger sealed shut and pressurized itself.

"NAV marker up. Several rooms full of hostiles between you and the bridge." Scythe added, opening a door.

"Tex, I'll take point." Colorado said, leading the way into the hall.

"Six targets through that door."

"Alternate route?" Colorado asked.

"Negative. No friendlies in the room. I suggest you use shatter shot, they have a claymore set up in the doorway that you won't be able to disarm and not get shot otherwise." Colorado sighed, pulling the sniper rifle from his back.

"Tex, get behind those crates." He ordered as he himself hid behind a crate.

"Why?"

"Trust me. Scythe; transmit the distance to round one. Program detonation time to eliminate all targets." A symbol flashed on his HUD. He leveled the rifle and fired. The round sped into the room, followed by a loud pop and screams.

"What was that?" Tex asked as she stepped out from behind her crates and followed Colorado up to where he was disarming the explosive.

"Shatter Shot. It's old tech that was added to the list of inhumane use munitions of the Geneva Convention in 2043. The knowledge of making it was destroyed, but a few of us in the Spartan program figured it out. Custom made bullets with a computer chip and explosives inside. Used to be preprogrammed before creation for a specific shot. Now we can have an AI wirelessly transmit the data for much better usability. The explosion turns the bullet into shrapnel, filling the room with something along the lines of shotgun pellets. Less explosive than a grenade, but much wider range of lethality, both in terms of area of effect and range of deployment. There were only ten of us in the program who trusted one another enough to share the knowledge to make the rounds before augmentation. Four of them died in augmentation." Tex peered into the room to see all the bloodied bodies.

"Effective. Why was it outlawed?"

"Seventeen civilians lost their lives because a sniper didn't do proper recon about his extremist target in Earth's Middle East terrain." Colorado lead Tex deeper in the ship.

"Stop. Twenty meters ahead is a storage bay with a dozen hostiles. Movement patterns show they are in combat, but I cannot assume why. Room cameras have all been destroyed." Scythe said. Colorado and Tex crouched and crept into the room. There was a small blast of fire and a screaming soldier ran by. Colorado heard the wet noise that could only be someone getting stabbed. Following that was screams mixed with bones and armor snapping. Next was the noise of twin guns firing. The bark a noise Colorado had heard before, and thought he wouldn't hear again.

"What are those? I don't remember ever hearing that type of gun?" Tex whispered.

"You wouldn't. Most people who've heard those specific guns firing aren't alive to talk about it." He replied, sure they were the guns he was thinking about.

"Stay here until things cool down, please?" Colorado asked.

"We'll see." Colorado rolled his eyes and stepped out into the open. What he saw as an armored man similar in size to Colorado wearing the standard MK VI helmet, EVA shoulder gear, and a CQB chest piece. The armor was a darker green than the standard olive of Spartans, with yellow trim. The man had just holstered large custom pistols on his legs, with a nearby corpse holding a battle rifle out of its chest by a bayonet. The man turned and pressed on a built in data-pad on his forearm. Colorado activated his shield wall and watched the metal dart impact the blue hard-light. The dart discharged a display of electricity across the wall, and then collapsed to the ground. Colorado collapsed the wall and rested his hands near the pistol and energy swords.

"They didn't tell me they were sending another Spartan. I thought I was the only one still in system." The man said, his hands hovering over his pistols.

"Still with the custom .45's, Gabe?" Colorado smirked. He had the voice modulator on his speakers activated, so his old comrade wouldn't be able to tell who he was by voice.

"Kale. I didn't know you were up." Gabe said, hands still over his guns. Colorado cursed under his breath and disabled the modulator.

"How'd you know it was me?" Colorado asked. He relaxed a bit, but still kept his hands near his weapons.

"You've got all of your weapons positioned for easier access to your left hand. You were the only marksman geared left hand dominant Spartan. Are you here to take the ship back or help the Insurrectionists?"

"Really? I'm not a rebel. I only did what I did to save people. We're here to take the ship back. If you don't believe me you can check. I'm with Project Freelancer now." As if to emphasis this, Tex stepped out of hiding.

"Freelancer? I was just en route to report there. I guess that'd explain why Dr. Halsey asked me to bring your personal effects with me." Gabe said, relaxing.

"If you two are done now, we have a ship to retake." Tex said, shoving past them both to lead the way to the bridge.

"She's moody." Gabe remarked as he pulled his battle rifle up.

"You have no idea." Colorado said as the two followed after Tex.

"So why the sniper rifle on board a ship? There's hardly enough distance for it to be effective."

"Shatter shot."

"Damn, that's rough. So, how long-"

"I'll tell you the whole story when we get you aboard the _Mother of Invention_." Colorado interrupted. Gabe nodded. Tex kicked open the door to the bridge and the three of them entered, firing on the mass of insurrectionists. Gabe pressed a button and the bayonet on his rifle shot out into one of the insurrectionists shoulder. A cable pulled the bayonet back, dragging the screaming man with it. Gabe pulled one of his pistols and shot the man in the face.

"That's an interesting mod." Colorado stated once all the men were killed.

"UNSC Fleet, this is Agent Texas of Project Freelancer. _The Babylon_ is secured." Tex said triumphantly into the communications officer's station.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! Gabe belongs to Gizmo16x, and is the main character of his story in which Colorado appears. Colorado also has or will be making appearances in stories by UnknownNemesis98, and The Illusional Chick, so be sure to go read their stories when you get a chance! As always, read, review, and PM me your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, and requests!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Here we are! CHAPTER 30! Enjoy! Also, as always, read, review, and pm me comments and suggestions! Agent Nevada belongs to Gizmo16x.**

* * *

York let out a low whistle as Tex, Colorado, and Gabe stepped out of the pelican that had landed in the main bay.

"We get another one of you giants?" He asked. Colorado removed his helmet and laughed.

"Yeah. A good one too. Then again, all of us Spartans are good."

"You have a codename yet?" South asked.

"Transfer files said I was to go by Agent Nevada. Sucks. I wanted New York." Nevada said. Colorado just started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm New York." York said. Then he looked to see the small duffel bag Colorado was carrying in one hand.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Just some of my personal effects from before getting tossed into the freezer. I kept them on Reach and had forgotten them honestly." Colorado said. He then went on to introduce Nevada to all the other agents and then showed him around the ship. The last stop was the dorm hallway, where Colorado was surprised to see that Nevada would be rooming with him.

"And here I was thinking I would get to continue having my own room." He joked.

"Still better than training, when all seventy-five of us shared a room." Nevada remarked.

"Good point." Colorado tossed the bag Nevada had given him onto his bed.

"Just so you know the Freelancers don't run on the same rank system we are used to. Your rank is your position on the leaderboard. But the order infrastructure is a little lax than we are used to." Colorado started to explain.

"All agents, report to hanger bay. Armor is not required." F.L.I.S.S. called out.

"That's F.L.I.S.S., the ships AI." Colorado explained.

Five minutes later all of the agents were standing in the hanger, dressed in jeans and t-shirts.

"There's recently been outbreaks of a rare and deadly form of flu on ships serving in the UNSC fleet. As a precaution, The Director would like you all to journey down to Reach to receive the pre-exposure vaccines, which are just a simple injection, much better than the post exposure vaccine or treatment." The Councilor informed them. He ushered them onto the pelican and soon they were heading down to the planet.

"Shouldn't we have done this when we came down here for our camping trip?" C.T. asked.

"More time off." York said simply. Soon the group was touring a medical facility.

"And here is where we have been working with the new flu virus. If you wait here just a moment, I'll be right back with the vaccines for you." A lab tech said. He walked out the room and the doors slid shut behind him.

"Well that was super boring. What was the point of the tour?" York asked, hopping up to sit onto a counter. Time seemed to slow as everyone shouted, watching a test tube fall from the counter and shatter on the ground. Alarms and red lights started to go off throughout the facility, and Nevada and Colorado could both hear the mechanical click of the door locking. Lab techs started rushing to the area to see what was happening.

"They've been exposed!" One tech yelled.

"Bring Hazmat suits! We need to transfer them to a quarantine facility!"

"York! If I get sick I'm going to fucking kill you." Carolina and Tex growled. Eventually, a man walked in through a Hazmat bubble now attached to the door, carrying suits for all of the freelancers.

"You've all been exposed to the virus. We will need to have you wear these so as not to spread infection while we transfer you to a quarantine facility to be given post exposure cocktails and wait to see if you've been infected."

"How long is the quarantine? And what are the treatment options if we are infected?" Nevada asked.

"Ninety-six hours. And the only treatment option is a series of very painful injections in different parts of the brain and other…sensitive locations. And the cocktail has an adverse side effect during your quarantine. Fifty percent chance of experiencing severe nausea and insomnia, the other fifty percent chance being experiencing mania and hallucinations over the course of the quarantine." The man explained as everyone started pulling on their hazmat suits.

"York, you're a dead man." South seethed.

The quarantine facility was designed to look like a cabin in the woods, but with a fair amount of tech. It had a large living room with enough seating for eight, a rec room with a dart board, foosball, pool, and air hockey tables, a well-stocked kitchen, a dining room that could also fit eight and four bedrooms with two beds each.

"Unfortunately, this is the only quarantine building available at the moment, and it was designed for only eight tenants, so it'll be a little crowded. The kitchen is stocked with enough food to last a month for eight, so you shouldn't run out. We placed sleeping bags for everyone who won't be in beds in the basement rec room. And we'll be back in four days to see if you're sick." A man said as he finished administering the last shot as he spoke. Then he walked out, leaving the Freelancers stuck there for four days. They turned on the T.V. to watch a movie and try to bide the time.

"Knock-knock." Wyoming said halfway through the movie.

"Wyoming shut up. I will stab you with the kitchen knives." Tex seethed, holding her stomach as the nausea was setting in.

"I wasn't talking to you, dear. I was talking to the king over there, such a fine gentleman he is." North and C.T. traded horrified looks. Wyoming was going to be hallucinating for four days? Neither of them was sure they could deal with such a thing. Maine growled, and stood up, lumbering away looking at the ceiling.

"There are no stars, Maine! It's the middle of the day! Stop that!" Sigma started yelling at him.

"He's hallucinating too? Someone go destroy everything sharp. I see deadly violence happening soon." North remarked.

"Do it yourself. I think I'm going to hurl." Carolina moaned.

Within an hour, the entire building had turned into a disaster zone. North and C.T. tried to be a voice of reason for the delusional Freelancers, even though they had their own crippling nausea, but the others were just too far gone. Tex, Carolina, and Nebraska were all laying on couches in the fetal position cradling their stomachs and trying not to vomit. Mitch, Cal, and Monty were all huddled over the foosball table trying to get the men to walk. Maine had ran into a wall chasing stars, and was now unconscious beneath said wall with Sigma sitting cross legged on his chest and seething at the giant. Wash was hallucinating he was in a war zone, and every time a loud noise sounded he would scream and attack the nearest person.

"Where's Newb?" North asked as he and C.T. tried again to account for all the Freelancers.

"She's upstairs. Filled the sink with water and thinks she's playing god making an ocean angry and drowning sailors. Hawaii?" C.T. groaned.

"Last I saw her she was in one of the bedrooms starring very intently at a lava lamp. I just hope she doesn't try to break it open and drink the lava or something." North's eyes grew wide at the thought, and he slowly made his way upstairs to check that she hadn't done just that.

"York! Get off the table!" C.T. yelled as she saw what he was doing. He was dancing and singing to imaginary music atop the table, having stripped off his clothes and turned his pants into a hat.

"What's that? ONE MORE SONG! Okay!" York yelled happily.

"York, no one is speaking to you. And there is no music playing. Also, I believe you are wearing your pants the wrong way." Delta appeared.

"Shut him up!" Tex screamed.

"KNOCK-KNOCK!...huge!...Huge bear!" Wyoming cackled.

"That doesn't make sense!" Carolina groaned.

"The huge bear sitting on you would care to disagree, chap." Wyoming responded.

"I didn't think it was possible for him to tell worse jokes than he did normally." North mused as he finally returned down the stairs.

"Have you seen your sister?" C.T. asked. North nodded.

"I had to lock her in one of the rooms. She thought killer demon carebears were trying to hug her to death. Have you seen Colorado or Nev?" North asked. C.T.'s face went from green to pale white rapidly.

"No. and that scares me. A lot." There was the sound of screams and they saw Colorado jump down the entire flight of stairs, being chased by Nevada with a coat stand.

"You stay the hell away from my brother or I'll beat you to death with your own shock baton!" Nevada yelled, swinging the wooden object at Colorado.

"I'm running as fast as I can, sir! I can't keep up with Kelly!" Colorado cried after his body convulsed, as if he had been electrocuted.

"I think their hallucinations are feeding one another. Both in their own world, but affecting the others. Freud would have a field day in this building." C.T. mused.

"Don't you think we should stop them before someone gets hurt?" North asked.

"You think we could even stop one delusional Spartan super soldier without our armor? There are two of them. Best to just stay the hell out of their way." C.T. responded.

"You want to hear a joke that isn't a knock-knock? Well I say dear fellow, that's quite rude, but alright. Why do squirrels swim on their backs? To keep their nuts dry!" Wyoming stated, before bursting out laughing again. North chuckled.

"Don't encourage the delusional!" C.T. slapped him on the arm.

"It's not my fault that one was actually kind of funny." There was a loud crash from the kitchen.

"I'm emailing a video of all this to everyone." Scythe remarked, his voice trailing in from the kitchen.

"No you're not! This entire facility is classified!" Carolina yelled from her spot on the couch.

"Humans never let me have any fun." The AI complained.

* * *

"Please, for the love of god, say we aren't sick. I haven't slept in four days. I just want to go to bed." C.T. groaned to the men who had finally showed up, their faces still horrified at the devastation that had once been a very nice building.

"Tests say you're all clear. We'll forward the bill to your superiors." One said. The Freelancers all cheered, and quickly made their way out of the building and onto the pelican.

"I can't believe you assholes didn't invite me to the party." 479er muttered over the radio as she took off.

"All in favor of pretending that never happened?" South asked. Everyone voiced their agreements.

"Not going to happen. I filmed the whole thing and sent it to everyone aboard the _Mother of Invention_." Scythe projected in the middle of the troop bay, an almost smug air about the hologram. Colorado growled, "As soon as we are back aboard the ship I'm stuffing you in the smallest computer I can find without an uplink to FLEETCOM or any other form of DataStream."


	31. Chapter 31

**Here's chapter 31! Agent Nevada belongs to Gizmo16x. Enjoy!**

* * *

"All agents please report to training room two." F.L.I.S.S. called over the ships speakers.

"We have a second training room?" Colorado asked. The entire group was assembled in their rec room, having spent a few days recovering from their quarantine.

"All agents without AI neural interfaces will need to wear their armor. Everyone else does not." F.L.I.S.S. added.

"Why would we not wear armor for training…?" York asked. He, Colorado, Nevada, and Maine were all walking to the newly added training room. The doors slid open and they saw twenty odd looking table-chairs arranged around the room, each with a monitor next to it.

"How is this a training room?" Nevada asked.

"To help train you for all the different environments you'll face in the field this room was added. Completely state of the art, the beds connect to neural interfaces and armor to send you to any terrain we can think of. The program can add any documented or programed enemy and characteristic, weapons, anything." One of the rooms' attendants said.

"Each of you has your own bed; names are under the monitor that will allow us and any other viewers to see what you see." She added. Colorado and Nevada both made their way to the two largest tables at the back of the room.

"I feel discriminated." Colorado joked.

"You want to lie on the midget table instead?" Nevada asked.

"No, they should've given everyone big tables."

"You're being an idiot."

Not long after all the Freelancers were laying on their tables with an attendant speaking to them.

"We're planning on running some tests. The first one is to see how good you are at survival. All of you will be randomly placed in a five kilometer expanse of jungle. You'll each be in your armor and allowed one firearm, as well as any knives you normally carry, along with one backpack full of provisions. The goal is to be the last one alive at the end of the simulation. Team up, work alone, however you wish. Just be the last one to get booted from the system to win." She said. The whole room shivered as they felt the rush of cold mercury at the base of their skulls as they entered the program. They all found themselves in an expansive white room where they all geared up. Colorado blinked as he suddenly found himself in a jungle, standing atop a hill under the canopy. He adjusted his helmets speakers to filter out the animal chatter.

"Scythe, boost sensors to maximum. Filter out any contacts that aren't big enough to damage or kill us. And let me know the second an FoF tag gets lit up in range." He pulled the pistol off his hip and his knife and started walking through the dense undergrowth, occasionally adjusting the backpack filled with water.

"FoF tag detected! Scrambled! On your six!" Scythe yelled. Colorado spun and dropped to a knee. A green light blinked on his HUD twice.

"Don't shoot. I think we should team up, give us a better chance of making sure a Spartan wins." Nev said as he walked out from behind a tree, one of his custom .45s in hand.

"Spartans always do work better together than alone." Colorado laughed.

"What'd you bring?" Nev nodded to the backpack over Colorado's armored shoulder.

"A handful of protein bars and as much water as would fit. We've always been good survivors, and those two are the most important. Plus fresh water beats the armor filtration systems." Colorado joked.

"I'm pretty sure we all agreed NEVER to mention that when we figured it out."

"I'm thinking we need to find a body of water to set camp up nearby. Dig some pit traps and make some snares for protection. Maybe build a hunting blind up in the trees for when we need to sleep." Colorado changed the topic.

"There is a scoreboard in the system. It just updated, Monty and Tex have teamed up. As have Maine, Wash, Newb, and Nebraska. York and North have been established having found an alliance. South, Carolina, C.T., Hawaii, and Wyoming have teamed up. Cal and Mitch are both still alone. First kill has been made. Wyoming was booted from the system." Scythe rushed through the information.

"Bastard had to tell knock-knock jokes." Colorado chuckled. Nev and Colorado started following the foliage in the direction of where it was likely to find water.

An hour later they had found a small lake that would do. Nev set about building the platform up in the trees for a form of safety, as Colorado dug a trio of pit traps and set half a dozen snares nearby.

"Did you put spikes in the pit traps?" Nev asked as Colorado climbed up into the trees.

"We're trying to eliminate opposition. If they can't survive a pit trap full of sharpened logs then they shouldn't win this test." Colorado said. There were sudden yells and laughter coming from below where one of Colorado's snares was placed. Colorado and Nev leapt across the tree branches much nimbler than expected seeing as they were both in half-ton armor. Colorado couldn't help but laugh when he looked down to see York hanging from his foot and North rolling on the ground laughing. He dropped to the forest floor, knocking North's rifle aside and throwing a light open palm strike to his chest when the purple freelancer tried to shoot him. North flew backwards to the ground with a loud exhalation of air.

"Hey Colorado." York said, voice dripping with embarrassment. "You want to team up?"

"Depends. What'd you pack?"

"Food. Lots of food." York said.

"I brought medical supplies." North groaned as he got back up. Nevada dropped down from the tree as well.

"We could just boot them from the program and take their gear." He reasoned.

"No way. The others have teamed up enough we could use the extra hands. North is pretty good with his rifle, and York…he's entertaining." Colorado explained, wondering why he felt the blood rushing to his cheeks under his helmet.

"Fine. If you trust them then they can stay."

Two weeks went by in the simulation, with only a few jungle cats attacking the four of them. Scythe kept them informed on the scoreboard, informing them of when Cal and Mitch both were booted simultaneously, and when Wash went, followed soon after by Maine.

"What's that?" North asked suddenly. Colorado, Nevada, and York looked up into the sky over the lake he indicated to see a brightly wrapped box slowly descending down on a parachute.

"You feel it too?" Nevada whispered to Colorado.

"You mean the feeling of dread and imminent danger? Yup." Colorado dropped from the trees and carefully walked over to the box. He read the note aloud over their COM channel.

"Go to hell Spartans. And it's got the ODST logo."

"Scans show the box contains a bomb. Timer won't start until the package is opened, estimated about five seconds." Scythe appeared.

"Colorado get back up here. Carolina and her alliance are headed this way." North called. Colorado smirked, bringing the package with him.

"This jungle is horrible! My armor is chaffing, I need a shower and a comfy bed, and my pj's." C.T. complained.

"I just want a good meal!" South growled.

"Will you two shut up! Tex is still out there, and our Spartans are teamed up with North and York. We have no clue where they are, and we all know they're each dangerous." Carolina hissed at them. Colorado waited till they were almost underneath their platform before he ripped open the package and dropped it.

"Hey ladies, catch!" Nevada called down. Carolina caught the bomb and the girls all crowded around.

"You mother fu-" South started, but stopped as the bomb exploded.

"Yes! Top five!" York cheered.

"Hey boys!" Tex's voice rang through the jungle air. The guys all turned their heads to see the black armored freelancer holding a rocket launcher.

"…you've got to be kidding me…" Colorado groaned.

"Oh, son of a bi-" Nevada grumbled as the rocket slammed into their platform and blew them clean out of the program.

"Damn it Tex!" York cursed as they all blinked back into the training room.

"Three hours in there. A lot longer than we were planning." The lead attendant stated.

"Ok, now to run the next test. You'll all be at a shooting range testing to see how good a sniper each of you is. You need to hit the target at farther a distance than the person before you to stay in the contest." She said. They all felt the cold and blinked as they found themselves on flat plains holding sniper rifles. First up was South, who's shot was pretty decent.

"So, are you going to end this off the bat or toy with them for a few rounds?" Nev whispered to Colorado.

"I'm afraid I've got no clue what you're talking about." Colorado smirked behind the visor.

"We both know you're a damn good sniper."

"Not nearly as good as Linda."

"True, but you were better than everyone else. It's just she was like the hyper diamond on Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Inhumanly better." Colorado rolled his eyes as he stepped up to the firing line. He scoped in and focused on the target and his breathing. He tuned his helmet to filter out all external sound and waited for almost eight minutes. Finally, on the exhale, he gently squeezed the trigger. He turned off the noise filter, and turned around. He slid the rifle onto his back.

"…Holy shit…"

"…Bloody hell…"

"…No way…" And several other amazed exclamations were said as they saw how far the shot was. 2.5 miles.

"Damn it. What's Linda's best?" Colorado asked as he stood back next to Nev.

"Last I heard it was 4 miles." Colorado cursed again as Nevada stepped up and shot the second best shot of the test, 1.25 miles. Then they were all pulled from the test.

"What happened?" Tex asked.

"Everyone who was still involved in the test pulled out. The next test will be a one on one hand to hand combat tournament in zero gravity. Everyone not involved in the fight going on will watch from a viewing room in the simulation." The lead attendant said again as they once more were placed into a simulation.

"Fuck my life." Colorado groaned as he saw the tournament board.

"What?" Hawaii asked beside him.

"Of all the people to put me against first it would be Nevada. Any of the other Spartans besides him and Fred I'd at least have a fair chance! But no, I get put up against him." He scowled before suddenly appearing at the bottom of the small room, with Nevada at the top.

Nevada jabbed for his head. Colorado anticipated the move and blocked, then kicked up. Nevada blocked the kick, grabbing Colorado's leg and throwing him against the wall. Nevada launched himself towards Colorado. Colorado flipped backwards and stopped on a low crouch, balancing on the balls of his feet. Nev growled and threw a rapid array of punches, which Colorado managed to avoid or deflect the majority of. Colorado grabbed Nev's right arm and folded it back behind Nev's head. This left Colorado open to bash his elbow into Nevada's visor, but Nevada had seen Colorado use that move before. He kicked Colorado's legs out from under him and the two floated away from the wall, attempt to grapple in midair. Colorado twisted in an attempt to get behind Nevada, but Nev took the opening and twisted them around. Colorado crashed face first into a wall, Nevada behind him and holding his arm in a kimura. The two suddenly appeared ,standing, on different ends of the viewing room; the tournament board showing Nevada as the victor.

The tournament continued on, until finally Tex and Nev were going head to head in the finals. The two appeared in the room, and immediately kicked off and collided with one another mid-room. Nev wrapped his arms around Tex in an attempt to crush her. She tucked her knees up and kicked out, forcing them apart. She kicked off the wall as soon as she made contact and flew forward, face connecting squarely with Nev's boot as it finished a roundhouse kick. He grabbed her arm and pulled, crashing her against the wall. He lifted her up and kicked off against the wall, slamming her with his full strength against the opposite wall. She swept his legs. He flipped backwards through the air. The two pushed off, colliding again. Nev twisted under a punch, maneuvering behind Tex. He wrapped his arm around her neck and squeezed tight. She squirmed a bit, trying to escape, but it was no use. They all appeared again on the tables.

"Training is done for the day agents. Dinner is being served." The head attendant said.

* * *

Later that night, well after everyone else was asleep, Nevada found himself wandering towards the door to training room 2. He decided he would put in a training session against a virtual copy of himself before getting his own shut eye. The door slid open and he saw Scythe on a terminal watching the monitor next to Colorado. The monitor displayed a simple blue armored elite growling, with Colorado unmoving. The elite laughed as it threw a plasma grenade, which lit the monitor up in a bright blue. Nev ducked behind one of the tables as Colorado was booted from the program.

"Run it again." He hissed to Scythe.

"You need to get some sleep. You've been trying to do this for almost eight hours. You've shown no signs of improvement." Scythe's voice sounded agitated, as if he had made the same argument less than a minute before.

"I said. Run it. Again." The AI audibly sighed and the program restarted. Nevada furrowed his eyes.

"_Why can't he manage one damn elite? I've seen him handle multiple of them in the field._" Nev wondered. There came a growl from Colorado as he was booted from the system.

"Again?" Scythe asked sarcastically.

"What do you think?" As the system restarted, Nev decided to back out of the room and try some holo-targets in training room 1 instead.


	32. Chapter 32

**Here you all go! Don't forget to read, review, ad PM me suggestions and opinions. Also, be sure to go read "The New Freelancer" by Gizmo16x the owner of Agent Nevada, "Red vs Blue: Authors Edition" by UnkownNemesis98, and "Hello to Hell" by The Illusional Chick as Colorado appears in their stories, and they're all good reads! Enjoy!**

* * *

"You look tired." North commented as Colorado sat down at their table.

"Didn't get any sleep." Colorado commented. He stared blankly at his food.

"Lots of work in your bay?" South asked snidely.

"Ship sensors indicate Agent Colorado has not spent any long periods of time in his work bay in days. Multiple extra hours logged in training room 2."

"D, it's rude to invade people's privacy like that." York scolded.

"What've you been doing there?" Carolina questioned. Colorado looked between the ten other people sitting at their table, before dropping his eyes to his lap.

"I've been trying to get over my problem…"

"You're Covenant problem?" York asked.

"What Covenant problem?" Colorado glared at York before turning to Nevada.

"I wasn't officially woken from the freezer. Five years in the ship holding me was attacked and boarded by a radical group of Covenant who uncovered a relic holding the memories of a Forerunner. They experimented on the crew when their own races wouldn't take the memories, and then me. It was…torture… worse than the augmentations. We managed to escape and were found by a UNSC ship. I spent months in counseling and in some hole in the ground randomly reliving the Forerunner's memories. Finally I convinced them to let me back into the field. They sent me out against some Covenant with some marines. I-I froze…I can't even be around their corpses without freezing up. That's why I was transferred to a program that didn't have me fighting Covenant." He explained, dropping his eyes.

"Oh. Well in that situation it's understandable you'd have trouble. Have you talked to Dr. Halsey to see if she could help?"

"Yeah. She's looking to see if there are any options."

"Well, we need to get off such depressing matters! So on to today's plans. We are all going to a carnival!" York said excitedly. Both Nevada and Colorado looked at him clueless.

"It's sort of hard to explain, you'll see." North said. They all ate up and headed to the hanger bay, where 479er was reclined against her pelican, out of uniform.

"You can't bring guns to a carnival!" She scolded, seeing Colorado's pistol attached to a chest harness on his right side below his ribs and Nevada's larger pistols on his hips.

"We have special clearance from ONI to carry side arms wherever and whenever we see fit." Nevada stated. 479er rolled her eyes and lead the way onto the drop ship.

Not long after they were all walking into the carnival. The guards at the gate gave Colorado and Nevada a hard time about their guns, but apologized when they learned the two had permits to walk around with just about any weapon they wanted to.

"This is madness. What the hell is this supposed to do?" Nevada wondered. They walked past the iconic big-top tent and heard a honking horn. A painted clown jumped out and sprayed Colorado with a water gun. Colorado grabbed the clowns wrist and twisted until the gun dropped, then flipped him over to the ground where he rested his boot against the painted man's throat.

"Cool it, dude. He's just a clown. They're harmless. Creepy, but harmless." York tugged Colorado's arm and pulled him away from the clown.

"Clowns are terrifying." Wash muttered. Newb nodded in agreement.

"C.T., you thinking what I am?" South whispered evilly.

"I think so." She grinned maliciously.

"Let's go to the rollercoasters!" North said.

"I want to ride the Ferris wheel." Carolina scowled.

"We should split up into two groups, that way we don't overcrowd anything." Hawaii suggested. Soon the girls were running off to the Ferris wheel, dragging a terrified Mitch and Wyoming with them as the two men screamed for their comrade's aid.

"It was nice knowing them." North shook his head sadly.

"They'll be fine right? The girls aren't that scary." Cal wondered, obviously worried a little about his brother.

"Our gender has more numbers, as well as two Spartans and Maine who is abnormally large for a normal human, and most of us are still terrified of the girls. Those two will be lucky to get away with just needing new pants." North explained. He and York then led the smaller group to the larger of the two rollercoasters. The line was short, and soon they were riding the high speed ride.

"What'd you think?" Wash asked Colorado and Nev once the ride was over.

"Eh, it was kind of boring. Don't see why you were all screaming." Nev remarked.

"What!? Are you kidding? That was one of the best rollercoasters I've been on! Huge adrenaline rush!" Cal exclaimed.

"We were jumping out of pelicans from the upper atmosphere before we were ten. It takes a bit more for us to feel adrenaline. Besides a fight, that always does it a bit." Colorado shrugged.

"Fine. Let's go play some games then." York scowled and led them to a group of tents and other odd contraptions. He stopped at a test your strength machine and swung the mallet down. The reader went up to the top of the sissy read out. He scowled as everyone besides the confused Spartans laughed at him. North went and barely did better. Maine went next and got halfway up. Nev decided to try it and went. The bell rung as the reader sped up then broke and the two parts flew off. He laughed at the amazed faces at the display.

"I'm the strongest Spartan alive." He shrugged as they moved on. They walked up to a booth for shooting rapidly moving small targets with a BB gun. North went first and could barely hit any targets, only getting a small green puppy stuffed animal off the bottom shelf. Colorado handed the attendant the money required and lifted up the small gun. He inspected it quickly before leveled it and took aim. Everything slowed as he focused and entered Spartan-time. He carefully shot each target, appearing slow to his eyes and to Nevada's, but appearing fast to everyone else.

"How the hell did you do that?" The booth attendant asked.

"Just a good shot." Colorado shrugged.

"Pick two things off the top shelf." The man scowled. Colorado picked the giant Spartan plushy and, at the begging of North a large black carebear with an assault rifle and a machete dressed in olive green tactical gear.

"She's terrified of carebears. I'm going to hide this in her locker." North snickered. As they were walking Maine suddenly let out a growl.

"Let's going into the house of horrors." Sigma's voice translated. The group turned and walked in under the goblin head over the entrance. Colorado and Nev yawned through the building as hands reached out and grabbed them, as they were leading, laughing at the obviously fake monsters.

"Why do they call it a house of horrors? It should be house of sleeping." Colorado joked as he walked through a curtain into the next room. The interior made him stop dead, Nevada bumping into his back.

"You're blocking the door." Nev remarked, pushing forward. The others followed in and saw what had Colorado paralyzed. The room was decorated like the interior of Covenant ships, with statues of the Aliens, mostly the large elites. Colorado started trembling, unable to move, before he let out a choked whimper. The noise was a horrible noise; one no one expected to hear from a giant super soldier. The others dragged Colorado back out towards the entrance. As soon as he was outside the building he went to the side and hurled. Maine growled.

"Sorry. I didn't know they would have that in there."

"It's offensive they have that there. Almost everyone knows someone who's died in the war. The fact they're profiting off of it is sickening." Nevada spat.

"Let's just forget it." Colorado shook his head and scowled.

"_I can't believe I did it again. I can't even take it out on those alien bastards."_ Colorado told Scythe. He punched the building, his fist plunging through the wood construct and pulling out, cut up.

"Look! A tattoo parlor! Do either of you have any tattoos?" Wash asked the Spartans. They both shook their heads.

"Let's fix that." North suggested. They walked into the room and looked around at all the examples of artwork, before each was taken into a work station by different artists.

"So, what do you want?" The pink haired and piercing covered woman next to Colorado asked. He explained his idea and gave her all the details and she walked off to make the design. An hour and a half later they were standing in the front of the building comparing tattoos. The non-Spartan Freelancers had all gotten random personal things. Nevada had gotten the Spartan logo on his left shoulder and the UNSC logo on his right, with 116 just below his neck in big black letters, as well as the word 'Loyalty' around his right wrist. Colorado had a cross on his upper left arm comprised of the names and numbers of all seventy five members of the Spartan II program along with CPO Mendez Deja and Dr. Halsey, with a banner above it reading 'We Will Protect' and a banner below reading 'We Will Remember'.

"We're all there." Nevada remarked as he inspected Colorado's tattoo.

"Yeah. How are the others?" Colorado finally brought himself to ask the question he had been dying to ask.

"As good as they can be. Mission after mission with hardly any break in between. We've lost a few since you went under. But it's hard to tell who."

"Spartans never die." Colorado quoted as they followed out the doors to find the other group. Nev nodded. They found the girls at outside the main gates, Mitch and Wyoming looking as if they were in shock from terror. It was a quick walk to the pelican, and they were soon lifting into the sky. Colorado felt a sudden sharp pain in his head and his hands flew up to rub his temples. He squeezed his eyes shut and then went limp as he was pulled into the memory that had fought its way to his mind.


	33. Chapter 33

**Here you go! Chapter number 33! Enjoy! (Insert the rest of my usual Authors notes here)**

* * *

"Colorado!" Everyone rushed over to his side as he fell out of his seat onto the cold metal floor of the troop bay. Nevada pushed everyone out of the way to check his pulse and breathing.

"He's fine. He is currently reliving a Forerunner memory. If he isn't conscious by the time we are back aboard the _Mother of Invention_ it would be helpful if you would transport him to the cot in his work bay. Once he wakes up from the memory we will have a small window to glean as much information as possible before the memory slips back into his unconsciousness." Scythe appeared above Colorado.

"Are you sure we shouldn't take him to the med bay?" York asked.

"Yes. I have a subroutine watching the memories, the information inside could be quite useful. However there is no way to record them as of yet, so we will need as much time as possible. And I can't do anything useful until I'm in a system with the proper files and programs not found inside a head." The moment the pelican landed they moved Colorado's unconscious body into his bay and onto his cot, ignoring his occasional mutterings.

"You should probably go relax. Once he wakes up he will jump right into work and can be an aggressive inconsiderate ass." Scythe informed.

* * *

"Why isn't The Director here? I thought this was supposed to be the briefing for some big important mission." C.T. asked. She, the twins, Nevada, and Carolina were standing around the briefing table, having been in the room for almost half an hour. Colorado walked in through the door and approached the table.

"The Director will not be leading this briefing, I will." He informed, before entering something into the table's command console.

"This is my estimated blueprint for a Forerunner tower complex on the planet we are approaching. We will be dropped off here, on the roof of the complex, and make our way down into the lower recesses of the tower. This was considered one of their military facilities, housed a high amount of their weapons and tech, as well as design plans. It could be a treasure trove of tech."

"That could help us in the war. Forerunner tech could save millions of lives." Nevada reasoned.

"Exactly. We need this tech. from the memory I experienced, the upper levels are low security, but with hardly any useful tech. The lower we go, the better the haul."

"Then why aren't we going in full force? We would be able to carry more if we took the full team." Carolina scowled.

"The Director has Tex on a solo field mission, with Wyoming and York leading three of the recruits on a field mission and Wash and Maine leading another. Since all the missions are time sensitive we are the only ones available." Colorado explained.

"Why did Tex get the solo mission?" South snarled. Behind her, North visibly rolled his eyes.

"Because I had first pick on the five to going on this mission. The Director picked who got which mission after that." Colorado explained. He smirked at South's incoherent muttered response.

"We leave tomorrow at 0900. Dismissed." Colorado turned and walked out of the room.

* * *

"This is less disturbing than I thought a giant floating Forerunner tower would be." South remarked as they stepped onto the roof of the spire.

"Better than the last facility we went to. Robot spiders." North remarked.

"You just invited the universe to have them here too. If they're here I will hurt you." Colorado punched North in the shoulder. Nevada snickered behind his visor at the irony of the spiders. They walked across the roof to the door. Colorado's hands slid across the door controls and the door hissed open.

"Sentinels. They seem passive." Scythe remarked of the floating machines above them.

"Yeah, from the reports they do at first. Then you stumble upon something and they shoot you with lasers."

"You read the reports on them too?" Colorado wondered.

"No, heard it direct from the source. Just because you haven't had contact with the others doesn't mean I haven't." Nevada answered. Colorado led them to a terminal and started working with the holographic pad.

"Elevator to the next floor is this way." He finally said, leading them to the elevator. The doors slid open to show a sentinel less than a foot away from Colorado's face. It scanned him with some weird light and floated away before Colorado could even draw his weapon.

"I've got a bad feeling that wasn't a good thing." Nev said voice just above a whisper.

"Same feeling here. Bad things happen when aliens use scanners."

"He'd know." North and C.T.'s heads turned to South, glares obvious even when hidden by helmets. Colorado ignored the comment, instead leading the way onto the elevator and entering the command to go down. The elevator slowly stopped and opened. Colorado carefully stepped out of the elevator into a large circular room. He was suddenly overcome with a feeling of imminent danger.

"Keep an eye open, I don't like this. Large empty room and all. This screams trap." He said. As he stepped into the center of the room machines suddenly came to life. A door opened across the room and a blue energy emerged from it, encasing Colorado and dragging him across the room. He grabbed a data terminal, trying to hold on from the increasing force of the pulling energy.

"No! Grab him!" Carolina ordered. The group rushed to try and pull him from the energy field pulling on him.

"It's too strong; you won't be able to pull me out." Colorado fought the immobilizing force, reaching behind him to grab Scythe's data crystal. He slid it into the terminal. Not more than a second later the pull became too strong, and he was pulled through the door, which sealed shut behind him.

"No!" Carolina growled, punching the now seamless wall. Scythe appeared on the data terminal.

"He'll have been taken somewhere in the complex. Sensors indicate that shaft went down to the tower depths. They want him alive for something and him specifically. Otherwise they would have taken everyone." The AI rationalized.

"He knew that. That's why he stored me where you could access me; I can open the doors to get further in. Someone get me so we can save him." Nevada stepped forward and removed the crystal, then inserted it into his armor.

"_Mother of Invention_, this is Agent Carolina."

"What is it, Agent?" The Director's voice drawled over the radio.

"We have a problem. Something took Colorado."

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

"No! No! Not again!" Colorado yelled as Sentinels floated around, machines whirring around him, suspended in a blue field of light in a dark chamber.

"Hello, I am the monitor of this facility, Infinite Justice 483. I apologize, Reclaimer, but this is going to hurt you. Don't worry though, it won't last long." A floating metal ball trilled from outside the field. Colorado tried to escape as sentinels started removing the armor from him and attaching their own machines.

His screams went unnoticed in the deep darkness.

* * *

**Dun dun dun! REVIEW! Dooooooo it. please. =D**


	34. Chapter 34

**Here you go! A Birthday present on my birthday to you! aren't you all lucky? Here's to the longest chapter yet! Enjoy! Read, Review, and PM me comments, thoughts, and suggestions! *Agent Nevada belongs to Gizmo16x***

* * *

**Flashback**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Brian asked. Kale glanced between the faces of his comrades. Brian, John, Sam, Kelly, and Keera. He nodded.

"We need that flag to win, and this is the best plan for us to get it."

"This plan is suicide. You remember what they did to James? What they do to you will be at least ten times worse." Kelly shook her head.

"The gap in the fence is only big enough for one of us to get through with the sentry timing. I can get in and sabotage some of their tech, then reveal myself near the front gate and cause enough chaos for you to sneak in through the gap and grab the flag and get back out without them knowing. Hopefully you can end the game before they get in too many cheap shots." Kale said firmly.

"It's a good plan. The only way to minimize the injuries our team sustains." John said. Kale looked around for any other words against the plan. Finding none, he turned into the shadows. The gap in the fence was tiny and well hidden, something the marines of Tango Company probably hadn't even noticed, forgetting that their opponents were twelve year olds. He waited in the tree line for the sentry to walk past before he slid through the gap. He walked past the barracks of the base, snapping a metal rod in the door lock to seal it shut. He did the same to two more buildings before he stepped into the armory.

"Those little twerps are in for a surprise if they try to take our flag. I rigged enough explosives to vaporize a warthog to the thing." One of the men laughed outside the door and his companion joined in.

"Live explosives? These bastards want to kill us." He whispered. Furious, he rigged all the remaining explosives in the room together and snuck out the door with the detonator. He ran towards the front gates, triggering the explosion when he was in safe distance. The flames leapt up into the sky, lighting up the base in the night. Screams and shouts echoed throughout the base as the men scrambled to arms. Kale dove into the floodlights at the front gate. He chucked the detonator into a man's face, knocking him over. Shots rang out, and he felt the sting of the rubber rounds connect to his leg. His hand pulled out his dart pistol and he fired back as the men swarmed around the gate. He was quickly surrounded and out of ammo; over a dozen of men standing around him with guns aimed. He dropped his pistol and held his hands up to signify surrender. The corner of his lip started to curl up in a smirk as he saw movement in the shadows, holding the flag. The figure that could only be Kelly stopping for a second to sign him thanks before he felt something hit the back of his head and his vision go black.

"_**You would gladly sacrifice yourself to protect the ones you care for; you have come close many times. We can protect them."**_

* * *

**In the Forerunner tower**

"I've got a route devised." Scythe informed as a door opened. Nevada lead them through the door and down the curved hallway.

"Sentinels!" The AI called as a quartet of the floating machines descended upon them, lasers trying to cut through them. The team fired on the sentinels, bullets peppering the glowing shields. North's rifle cracked and one of the machines fell apart to the ground. Nevada fired his bayonet, the blade digging into one of the beams of the lead sentinel. He retracted the cable, expecting the machine to be dragged down to him. Instead, he was pulled up into the air to dangle below the sentinel. He pulled himself atop the machine, yanking his rifle out of it in the process. He reached between the beams and ripped out the sentinel's processor. It whined before falling to the ground. It fell alone, as Nev jumped to another sentinel. He pulled on two of the beams until they snapped, bringing that one crashing down. The final sentinel turned to fire on Nev, who rolled away from the energy beam. C.T. tossed a knife into the source of the beam, which caused the sentinel to move almost like it was shivering in the air before exploding. Carolina stepped forward, holstering her plasma rifles and picking up one of the laser weapons dropped by the machines.

"Interesting. This might be useful." She remarked.

"That could be said about just about any weapon or tech here." Nev said as he led them through the next door. The door hissed shut behind them, locking them in the cavernous hallway, with a ceiling so high it couldn't be seen and so wide that half a dozen scorpion tanks could drive down it without touching one another if the pillars and support beams scattered about were removed.

"Can you see the other side?" South whispered to her brother. He scoped in with his rifle before shaking his head.

"Nope. It just ends in darkness. No idea how long this hall is." He answered.

"Well this is the path we need to take to get to the bottom. So we'll go until we get to the other side." Nev growled.

"Scythe, can you tell us anything?"

"Negative Carolina. I would need to be left in a terminal or use a wireless uplink to access the sensors in the tower. I can say that Nev's sensors are picking up his IFF tag from his neural implant deep in the tower, near the base, and they're saying he's alive. But his armor stopped transmitting vitals; it is either damaged, removed, or both." Carolina and Nevada lead the rest of the team into the bowels of the hallway.

"Sentinels!" Scythe yelled.

"You don't need to yell. We can hear you just fine." Nevada growled angrily. They all peaked ahead to see the swarms of machines, dozens of the small grey sentinels as well as a trio of much larger green ones.

"That is a lot of alien robots." South whispered.

"One!" North called after his rifle cracked and one of the machines fell to the ground.

* * *

**Flashback**

"You ok?" Fred asked. Kale shook his head, fighting back the urge to throw up again.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just nervous."

"You blew up half of Tango Companies base before, and you're nervous about us killing two men?" John wondered.

"I'm nervous about this being my first mission. I don't want to be the one who screws up our perfect record." Kale muttered. He started to gag again, and John and Fred both leapt away from him.

"Stop that! We don't have any more boots to replace these ones!"

"Don't worry; I think there's nothing left to come out." Kale laughed.

"We're here." The pilot called. John led the way off the ship and into the city.

"This is where I take my leave." Kale smirked before jogging into the parking garage and up to the top floor. He looked over the ledge to make sure no one was in the glass bridge from the level below connecting the parking structure to the office building. Sure the bridge was empty he slid over the ledge and dropped onto the roof of the bridge. A short sprint across the bridge and he was able to scale the larger office building.

"_Are you in position?_" John's voice crackled over the radio.

"Almost. ETA thirty seconds." Kale lifted himself over the roof of the building and crept up behind the sniper guard overlooking the rally. He reached around and snapped the man's neck, making sure not to let the body fall over the edge. He leveled his own rifle and scoped in on one of the other three rooftop guards around the courtyard.

"In position. Waiting for your mark." He glanced away from his scope, down to the crowd below. He could see both John and Fred working through the crowd, Fred looking for threats to John and John making his way to the stage.

"_Give me a ten count and clear the roofs._" Kale counted and opened fire on the other snipers. In between the three shots of his rifle Kale heard the distinct whine of a silenced pistol discharging twice below.

"Falling back to set up cover fire." He rappelled down the side of the building and sprinted back towards the LZ, kicking a rebel soldier in the kneecap and smacking him in the head with the butt of his rifle when the man tried to apprehend him. He turned and kneeled in the troop bay of the pelican, opening fire on the men pursuing his teammates. He saw the other sniper train his gun on John's back as he and Fred ran aboard the pelican; Kale scoped in himself. His finger squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened. He cursed, throwing the weapon aside as he shoved John out of the way. There was a distant crack of a rifle, and he felt the round tear into his stomach.

"_**You fight for peace amongst your own race; your life has been dedicated to war. We can end it."**_

* * *

**In The Forerunner Tower**

Nevada dove from cover, tackling Carolina out of the way of a laser blast from one of the Super Sentinels.

"Those big ones won't go down!" North called, panic in his voice. He had just emptied an entire mag of rifle rounds into one, not even puncturing the shield.

"Get ready to fire another mag at it. On my mark…Mark!" Nev yelled as he hit a button on his arm data pad. A dart flew out and hit the Super Sentinel's shield. North fired on it repeatedly. It exploded, showering the room with machine parts. Several of the smaller sentinels exploded after being hit by the parts.

"Those all count as mine!" North yelled.

"Bull shit! They're Nev's!" South yelled angrily as she fired her shotgun into one of the sentinels.

"You just got sarged!" She yelled.

"That…doesn't make sense… she isn't a sergeant…" Nevada shook his head, confused.

"Don't correct her when she is shooting! She will shoot us instead of the angry robots!" North hissed. Nev rolled his eyes before tossing a plasma grenade to one of the few remaining sentinels. The only two left were the large Super Sentinels.

"Same method as the last one?" North asked. Nev nodded and aimed for the first of the targets. It exploded as they turned to the second. Soon that one was down as well.

"No no no this just will NOT do." A digital sing song voice hummed. A glowing blue orb floated out of the darkness. The team fired on it.

"Don't do that!" it hummed. The machine floated down in front of Nevada.

"A second Reclaimer!? They said there was only one! I will have to have their sensors recalibrated." It said.

"Who or what the hell are you? And where is our friend?" Nevada growled, hand tightening on one of his guns.

"I am the Monitor of this facility, Infinite Justice 483. The other Reclaimer has been taken to his quarters deeper into the facility." The Monitor explained.

"We want him back."

"I'm afraid we cannot do that. He is _our_ Reclaimer. He has the memories of the designer of this facility. He is undergoing the ascension process. Your friend won't be left soon."

"Fine. Then you're useless to us." Nev shot the sphere in its blue eye.

"Scythe?" The AI's hologram appeared before them.

"There is an elevator one hundred meters down the hall and to the right. It was unlocked when that…thing appeared. It will take us directly to where the IFF tag is transmitting from." The team walked to the marker and into the elevator.

"Oh god." C.T. yelped at the rapid descent. It wasn't long before the platform stopped and the doors slid open again.

"Oh god." Carolina whispered. Colorado was floating in a pillar of blue light, unconscious. The black suit that he wore under his armor was tattered and torn; all gone except a small amount of material around his waist and halfway above his knees. There were multiple wires attached to him, electrical running to his head and several others injecting fluids into various other parts of his body. To their right was a table covered in a neatly laid out arsenal of weapons with his armor discarded in a pile next to it. Nevada could see the wall behind it in the darkness, holding dozens of weapon racks full to the brim as far as eyes could see.

"Nevada, stick me into the terminal. NOW!" Scythe yelled. Nev pulled the AI and inserted it into the terminal by the table of controls and monitors before the pillar of light. Scythe's hologram appeared on the pad.

"They're trying to _fuse _his memories with those of the Forerunner and augment his body even further! His minds fighting it…but I don't know how long he'll hold out." The AI's voice quivered an edge of panic to the synthetic voice.

"Can you undo it? Or stop it?" North asked.

"I don't know. I can try. But it might kill him."

* * *

**Flashback**

Kale took a deep breath before looking around at his team. Out of the thirty marines he had started with to board the Covenant ship only thirteen were left. His Longsword fighter was still operable, but their Pelican was damaged.

"_Still better than the second Pelican._" He told himself. He nodded to the marines before leading the way to the door further into the ship. The marines stood on either side of the door as he opened it, guided through the alien symbols by Scythe. The door slid open to show a pair of elites. He leveled his gun and fired, the marines turning around the door and joining him. The elites were torn to shreds swiftly.

"You three, with me. The rest of you, split into two teams. We're all going to take different routes. That way if the bridge drops the module we are in at least the entire op won't be scrapped." He ordered. The marines acknowledged his order with an array of 'yes sir's, and they all veered off. He could feel Scythe at the back of his head feeding Intel to the other teams.

"_Team two is down. Cloaked elites with swords._" Scythe informed him.

"_Damn it! Why didn't they send more Spartans on this mission?_"

"_They're fighting planet side, helping with evacuations._"

"_They could've spared one more. I don't think Blue Team needs that many for this mission._"

"_You just wish they had sent Brian or Gabe with us because they're both more comfortable in zero g._"

"_I like fighting on the ground! And stay out of my thoughts!_" Kale opened the door and jumped aside as an overcharged plasma pistol shot flew past. He heard the scream of one of the men on his team. Round the bulkhead and into the room he moved. Sidestep the jackal's shield and bash it's skull in. He turned on the fleeing grunts, shooting two in their methane tanks to kill the entire group in the explosion.

"_This is team three. Sorry team one. You're on your own._" A voice crackled over the radio. Not wanting to have the same happen to his remaining team, Kale sprinted forward; past screaming grunts and jackals. The gunfire behind him told him the two marines were cleaning them up. He leapt through the doors to the bridge right before they slid shut. He tackled an elite and crushed it's skull under his fist. A rapid move of his hand and he had the guard's energy sword. Kale climbed to his feet to see the Shipmaster, energy sword in hand.

"Demon." It hissed at him, then lunged. He batted the energy blade aside and kicked out. The elite stumbled forward into the bulkhead. It turned just in time to see the bluish energy blade drive into its face. Kale turned and attacked the remaining bridge crew, slaughtering the unarmed elites before they could get past the shock of their Shipmaster's death.

"The two marines' vitals are gone." Scythe informed him.

"Admiral, this is Sierra Two-eight-eight. I have taken the bridge but my team is either KIA or no longer aboard. It's impossible to hold the ship. Orders?" He called over his COM's. He slid Scythe into the ship's computers to allow the AI time to take control of systems.

"_Crash it into the moon. We might be able to recover some tech._" A voice responded.

"Sir, there are ships in between us and the moon. That'll kill tens of thousands of civilians." Kale gasped.

"_The tech we gain from you doing so could save billions of lives, Spartan._"

"Estimated trajectory and speed from this distance and power of the ships engines will destroy the entirety of the ship. Any recoveries will be minimal at best." Scythe informed Kale, knowing exactly what was going through his head.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I can't do that. All useful tech will be destroyed. I'm going to overcharge all the systems and send the ship on a crash course with the Covenant's command ship. Hopefully the explosion and crash will do something." Kale said. He immediately started on the commands of the console with Scythe's help.

"_Spartan, you crash that ship into the moon! That's an ORDER! If you don't I will have you charged with insubordination!_" Kale cringed. Every fiber of his being wanted him to follow orders, but he knew he couldn't. It was his job to protect humanity. Those orders didn't seem for human.

"You better start the paperwork then, sir." He said.

"Done." Scythe called. Kale extracted the AI and ran out the now open doors back to the hanger. He sprinted past any and all hostiles, not stopping until he reached the hanger and was flying his Longsword away from the ship. He landed aboard _The Washington_, able to watch the explosion and devastation of his handiwork out of the open bay doors. He still had a smirk on his face as he stepped off the fighter to face a squad of marines and the admiral to arrest him.

"We find the defendant guilty of all charges. Sentence is to be placed in Cryogenic stasis indefinitely." Kale scowled behind his visor, arms crossed, at the ruling. A team of techies came up behind him and tried to pull him into a cryopod they had brought into the courtroom. Furious, he lashed out, sending the four of them flying across the room. The other Spartans in the room snapped to attention, rushing forward to try and apprehend him. He fought back fiercely; a wild animal cornered. Fred almost lost his head. Gabe and John managed to grab his arms and force them behind his back. Brian, Keera, and Kelly forced him backward into the pod and he was unable to stop it with the other two holding his arms. The pod snapped shut before him and his eyes locked on the six of them as the cold stopped everything.

"_**You fight to stop the Covenant threat to your race. We can create peace."**_

* * *

**In The Forerunner Tower**

"Got it!" Scythe cheered. His voice sounded odd, as if through a fishbowl, and his hologram glitched and changed colors for a brief second. The cables all detached from him with a hiss, blood and other odd chemicals dripping from them. Gunmetal grey pieces of oddly shaped metal appeared and flew around him, attaching themselves to him into some oddly shaped armor. It was more sleek and alien, but appeared to have design cues with his standard MK VI armor. The only part of his body that wasn't covered in the alien armor was his head. The blue light turned off and he collapsed to his hands and knees. More metal slid from the armor and encased his head, the metal looking almost skull like. His head lifted up to look at them, and they eyes light up a bright blue. The light appeared at other symmetrical parts around the armor.

"What..The fuck…" He gasped before collapsing to the floor.

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**Tell me what you think!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Here's chapter 35! Enjoy!**

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"That was really quite rude of you to shoot me, Reclaimer. And it was wrong of you to let our Reclaimer out before he was ready. The halves were not whole." A voice hummed from above. Nevada looked up from Colorado to see another of the floating balls next to two of the sentinels. He reached for his pistol, but was paralyzed when blue light encompassed him and the other freelancers.

"Not going to let you do it again. I don't have an infinite supply of these to store myself on." Infinite Justice trilled. Colorado groaned from the ground, shakily climbing to his feet.

"You really shouldn't be up yet. We were not finished yet." Metal fragments flew away from Colorado's arm and composed in his right hand in the shape of an alien compound bow.

"The hell we weren't." He hissed as a hard light arrow ionized in his left hand. He knocked it and watched it fly through Infinite Justice's eye and out the back. Twice more he repeated the process to eliminate the sentinels before the bow dismantled itself and reformed as an outer layer for the alien gauntlet, which Colorado immediately brought to his side in pain.

"A bow? The most advanced society in known history… and they equip their armor with a bow?" C.T. asks, bewildered.

"Did you expect me to walk over to the table and grab a gun instead? A bow would make sense. Every ancient human civilization used bows at one point or another; devoid of interaction with one another. Where do you think the Elites got the designs for their energy swords? Downgraded Forerunner tech." Colorado gasped between clenched teeth. The armor helmet disassembled and retreated into the body as he walked over to Scythe's terminal and inserted it into the port at the base of his skull.

"This whole tower was a trap. The Forerunner whose memories are lodged in my skull made a fake memory to lure me here so his machines could turn me into him. The only weapons here are his personal armament on the wall there. And his armor."

"There were also some blueprints for some tech you might find rather interesting. We can go over them later." Scythe's voice projected through the armors of the other Freelancers.

"Why did you project through our armors?" Carolina asked.

"I'm not compatible with the Forerunner armor." The AI's voice dripped with anger.

"We'll upgrade you when we get back aboard the _Mother of Invention_. Let's load up what we can and go before I collapse." Colorado grunted.

"What makes you think I _need _to be upgraded?" Scythe muttered as they started gathering as much of the weapons as they could carry. North soon found and brought an anti-gravity cart on which they stored the gear, including Colorado's damaged MK VI armor. After what Colorado thought was far too long they had the cart full and were about to walk onto the elevator back up when a humming voice called from behind them, "I can't let you leave. The Designer would be most unhappy with that."

"Your designer can go jump off a bridge, asshole. I'm not going to become his meat suit. Thanks for the tech though." Colorado waved his hand in front of the terminal before the door and let his hand move around the hard light display. Blue light surrounded Infinite Justice just as the elevator doors slid open.

"This is quite rude, Reclaimer! We will find you and bring you back! You will become the Designer!" Infinite Justice yelled as the team stepped onto the elevator.

"Not today, Bitch. And not tomorrow, either." Colorado answered before the doors slid shut.

The journey out of the tower was easy, the sentinels acting like they didn't exist. 479er was soon landed on the roof, and they were flying back to the _Mother of Invention_. Colorado ignored the protests of the others on the team when he insisted on seeing the tech delivered into his work bay before heading to the med bay. He left the cart by his table and almost laughed when the Forerunner armor disassembled from around him and collapsed into a small rectangle that he was able to tuck into a black field gear backpack. He quickly locked the door and made his way to the med bay, where he collapsed into a bed before the med team could even talk to him.

* * *

"What happened? Is he ok?" York questioned as he walked into the med bay room where Nev and North were both sitting in the room with the unconscious Colorado.

"Short version, crazy alien robot kidnapped and tortured Colorado in an attempt to turn him into the Forerunner whose memories are locked up in his head. As far as the docs here can tell he's fine, but we are going back to Reach for Dr. Halsey to have a look at him." Nev said without looking up from what he was working on. York looked at the mobile work table he was leaning over to see a pair of watches.

"The Director wasn't very happy about that turn of events." North chuckled from behind a comic book.

"Or the Forerunner armor that refuses to let anyone touch it. He really wanted to examine that." Nev remarked.

"It's not armor, its class thirteen Forerunner combat skin. The MJOLNIR armor Spartans wear is class 2. The rest of you wear class 1 armor. The most advanced piece of tech humans have, and its garbage compared to that. I wouldn't be happy either." Colorado croaked. "Hell, I'm not happy. That humming whore turned me into another alien science project." He muttered.

"How do you know all that?" York asked.

"Alien science experiment. Scythe was able to reverse the memory synching, but I still absorbed some of the knowledge.

"Nev let me see those watches. I think I can make a few additions." Nevada shrugged and handed over the gear.

"No no no, you shouldn't be doing any work until you're completely cleared!" York tried to take the watches away, but was blocked by Colorado's arm.

"I'm not just going to sit here and wait." He growled.

"But-"

"Nope, not going to happen."

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Colorado nervously paced in the troop bay of the pelican as it descended to CASTLE base. He knew his pacing usually bothered other Spartans, like Nev who was sitting in the bay, but he had an incessant need to keep moving. The two of them exited the pelican as soon as the bay doors opened and walked into the base. Security let them pass without pause and soon they were in a lab with Dr. Halsey.

"Kale, Gabe." She nodded to them.

"Ma'am." The two responded.

"Kale, before we put you under for examination I have some news. I've found an experimental injection process to cure Post traumatic stress disorder, which I believe may help you with your Covenant phobia. But there are risks."

"What risks ma'am?"

"13% Mortality rate, 30% success rate, 57% chance of nothing happening. Since you will be unconscious for the examination it would be easy to add in."

"If you are free ma'am it would be much appreciated." Kale said.

"Dr. Halsey, why did you request I accompany him here?" Nev asked.

"I want a firsthand account of the mission, and I trust you better than Lenard Church's trained team. Now Kale, lay down on the table so we can begin." Colorado did as she asked, and shortly after the I.V. was placed he felt himself drifting off into sleep.

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**Alrighty, you know the drill. Review and PM me your thoughts comments and suggestions!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36! Read, Review, and PM me your comments opinions and suggestions! I love hearing from the readers! Agent Nevada and his AI belong to Gizmo16x. Be sure to check out his work!**

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"As far as I can tell you're fine; you might experience a slight increase in reaction times, speed, and strength that could be temporary or permanent. There's also a Forerunner device that was added through your neural implant that I was unsure what will do, but it seems benign. It is unable to be removed though. Otherwise you show perfect health. Besides the nasty burns of course" Halsey informed Colorado once he was fully awake from the exam.

"So no scary acid-blooded aliens are going to explode out of my chest and try to eat everyone else?" Colorado laughed halfheartedly.

"Be sure to stay away from the mind rotting entertainment with those simple soldiers. I didn't spend all those years making you the best we have to offer to let simple media deteriorate your brain cells. Now go on. Oh, and Gabe, I have something for you." Halsey scowled at Colorado, who hung his head shamefully, before handing a tiny data crystal.

"I know what that is! I helped-"Colorado started, stopping when Dr. Halsey glared daggers at him. Nev raised his eyebrow at the odd sight but slid the crystal into his data port. His watch flashed and a hologram of an AI appeared.

"Hello, Spartan. I am the AI Leonidas." The hologram said. Colorado stifled a laugh at how the voice and hologram resembled a green version of Leonidas from the movie the other freelancers had made him watch with them.

"Yes, Spartan?" Leonidas turned to face him.

"Nothing, it's just you resemble almost perfectly the portrayal of Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae in a movie." Colorado smirked.

"That was the intention."

"Remember what I said, Kale. Stay away from the mind rot." Halsey said before shooing the two of them out so she could get back to her research.

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The two Spartans were soon back aboard the _Mother of Invention_ and walking down the dorm hall to get some sleep.

"Why is there a sock in this door?" Nev asked as they stopped. Colorado read the nameplate and smirked. He banged on the metal door.

"Get some Tex!" he yelled before running away.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Cursed from within the door. Nev looked around confused, before looking back at the door as it opened to reveal an angry Tex with a blanket around her.

"Where." She growled at Nev. He looked at her with wide eyes before pointing the direction Colorado had run off to.

"Hide me hide me please!" Colorado yelled as he hurdled over the couch York and North were sitting on, playing video games.

"Why?" North asked.

"Where is he!?" echoed from outside.

"Is that Tex?" York asked.

"Yes. She had a sock in her door and I did what you did to Carolina." Colorado whimpered.

"…We're all boned…" North sighed as the angry woman walked into the room.

"You..." She hissed.

* * *

Colorado slowly dragged his way through the door to his room. Nev was sitting on his bed tinkering with his watch.

"What was all that about?" He asked as Colorado slowly lowered himself onto his bed.

"Sock in door means sex. Apparently it isn't just for procreation and is a useful stress reliever and cardio workout." Colorado groaned.

"Tex and Monty. Wouldn't have guessed that one." Nev mused.

"Monty was the one in there with her? Wow. Maybe that information will help North and York forgive me. Tex... very angry... very violent..." Colorado said.

* * *

"Do we really have to categorize all of these?" York wondered. Colorado had convinced him, North, Wyoming, Nev, and Wash to help him organize the gear from the Forerunner facility.

"Cheer up chap. At least it will count as overtime."

"You get overtime!?"

"Yeah. South and I get it all the time." North chuckled. They started inspecting the weapons and putting them near the closest weapons of human variation, with Nev walking over to Colorado. They both inspected the holographic displays of the several dozen Forerunner blueprints. When one of the last ones appeared Colorado let out a low whistle.

"…oh my god…" He whispered. Nevada's eyebrows scrunched together and he spent seven minutes in silence staring at the design.

"That's… we spent months… wow…" he muttered.

"I know. All these parts and everything are rare or hard to get. And the power source… I don't even think ship engines make enough necessary power." York walked over and looked around them.

"What is it?"

"It's the holy grail of engineering for a Spartan. Every single one of us has fantasized about building this. A mobile armory held in slip space. A box the size of a HAVOK nuke warhead that could carry every weapon you could want." Colorado explained his voice laced with reverence.

"We need to figure out how to build this. I don't care how; it'd be easy to get ONI to help."

"Let's not get the spooks involved unless we have to. I've spent too much time with them."

"No this gun's mine!" North yelled from behind them.

"I believe I deserve this gun!" A crash followed Wyoming's words. Nev, York, and Colorado turned to see the two wrestling on the ground fighting over a long gun.

"What is that?" Nev asked.

"I think it's the Forerunner's sniper rifle…Binary rifle..." Colorado rubbed his temple in discomfort at prying into the alien memories. Nev grabbed a grappling gun from a table nearby and shot it, pulling the Binary rifle to him.

"Hey!" North and Wyoming yelled.

"This is the only one of these guns we retrieved. It belongs to the best sharpshooter onboard. That's Colorado." He handed the gun to Colorado while the other two grumbled.

"So what's up with the armor?" York asked, tilting his head to the alien armor being scanned on a table.

"Scanning it to determine what it's capable of and to try and figure out how the Forerunner's combat skin system works. And learn what I need to do to update Scythe to make him compatible with it."

"I don't need a damn update!" Scythe screamed as sparks flew out of his holo tank.

"What the hell Scythe? That doesn't fix itself." Colorado scowled.

"Stop acting like _I'm_ the one who needs to be updated to be compatible; like I'm some out dated piece of trash." The AI's hologram flashed and his voice changed filters briefly.

"Scythe, log off. You need to cool down; you've been acting crazy since our mission." Colorado ordered. Scythe shook his head before doing as told.

"He's fine." Colorado told Nev before he could say anything.

"Agents Colorado, Nevada, New York, and Texas please report to the briefing room." F.L.I.S.S. called out. North and Wyoming excused themselves and rushed out of the bay before the other three set off to the briefing room.

"You four are being deployed into the field to raid a base where we believe one of the Insurrection leaders is hiding out. You four are going to be dropped five kilometers away from the base and make your way through these swamplands to infiltrate and capture him. This operation hinges on your ability to remain undetected. Agent Texas will have command in the field. We want this man alive, agents. He holds information vital to the Insurrection; capture him and we could very well end their entire operation within the year. You leave at 0600. Dismissed." The Director turned on his heel and walked out the door.

"Well, I guess tomorrow is going to be interesting; another mission so soon. What could go wrong?" York mused.

"...You have no idea how bad the cosmic bitch slap we are going to get tomorrow is going to be now…" Nevada sighed.


	37. Chapter 37

**Blabla same old same old. no interesting A/N. ENJOY!**

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"Why does Tex get to field test the giant scary alien gun?" York whispered to Colorado as the pelican left the _Mother of Invention_.

"Because the scary lady wanted it. And I wasn't in the mood for her to try to kill me. Just be glad she didn't take the one you're testing too." Colorado hissed back.

"You're sure this thing is a shotgun? And a good one?" York asked about the gun on his back.

"It's a tens of thousands year old alien gun. Just be glad I even know what it is."

"So why the hell are we testing these fancy alien guns but you aren't testing the fancy alien armor?" Tex asked from across the pelican.

"Because I don't want to take untested armor in the field till I know exactly what it can and can't do. When we got the MJOLNIR armor it had already been tested. And I haven't found a way to make Scythe and the armor compatible with one another yet, and I don't want to upset him since he's been moody since that last mission. If worse comes to worst then he can work through the watch Nev built, but I'm pretty sure he would be a bit upset about that. Which is why I'm glad he's offline at the moment." Colorado explained.

"Moody as in the outbursts of anger that keep breaking things and the depressed cynicism? Since those are signs of rampancy according to the files The Director made me read." York wondered.

"He's _not_ going rampant. Just a little stressed."

"Sounds to me like you're in stage one of the Kubler-Ross model." Nev muttered. Colorado was about to respond when another voice interrupted.

"This is where you get off ladies and girls!" 479er called. They jumped out the back hatch and splashed into the swampy water below.

"Well this is going to be a shitty trip. Cleaning this gunk off my boots is going to take forever." York complained. Tex cackled as she shoved York over and down into the swamp water.

"Cosmic bitch slap exhibit A. Twenty bucks we get to at least exhibit G before this mission is over." Nev pulled him out of the muck.

"Not taking that bet. The trees here look sturdy. I'm going to climb up and scout ahead." Colorado said before scaling up into a tree.

"I'll take that bet." York said as they started traversing the swamp.

"You're being an idiot York. He's very good at accurately anticipating cosmic interference." Colorado's voice crackled from the radio.

The trip to the Insurrectionist facility was riddled with misfortune. Twice they wound up walking in circles, four times Colorado fell off of branches that had rotted from inside.

"York. If something goes wrong again, I'm going to hit you. Very, very hard." Colorado seethed as he climbed back into a tree just outside of the facility.

"Two sentries outside the front door. That's it. Sixteen stories. One way mirror windows so I can't see inside. Should I shoot the sentries?"

"Go ahead." Tex answered. He smirked behind his visor and scoped in on the first of the two sentries. He squeezed the trigger and quickly moved the scope to the second target and fired again. He gasped as he watched his target turn orange and disintegrate.

"Holy crap!" He gasped as he fell out of the tree again. He pulled himself up and sent the recording to everyone else.

"Guns that disintegrate... You aren't getting mine back." Tex stated with a little too much enjoyment.

"I told you not to give her the big one!" York hissed when she walked through the front doors.

"Then she would've taken it and shot me and I would be a disintegrated Spartan!"

"Stop bickering we have work to do." Nev growled before shoving them into the building after Tex. The black armored freelancer was flying around the room beating the guards inside to a pulp; the ones still alive screaming and running away.

"Alarms been triggered. I'm going to take the stairs, York and Colorado take the elevator. Nev, guard the lobby. Don't let anyone leave." Tex ordered. As York and Colorado walked onto the elevator Nev called out to them, "Exhibit H. Be sure to have my money when we get back aboard the ship." The door slid shut before York could rebuttal.

The door slid open to screams of pain and terror, as well as orange balls of light flying through the air.

"I'm going to need new armor interior." York whimpered after hearing the cackling of Tex.

"They bounce! They bounce and explode and the explosions bounce too!" she screamed.

"Nev… bring the big needle with the medicine to fix the crazy lady." Colorado called over the radio before walking out of the elevator to see Tex holding her Incinerator cannon to the last living soldiers head.

"Where. Is. Your. Leader." She growled.

"I don't know I don't know please don't kill me!" The man screamed.

"Well if you don't know then there's no use letting you suck up air."

"Tex, why don't you try another solution. Try this pistol, disintegration power in localized areas." Colorado handed his boltshot to her, and he could tell she was smiling under her visor.

"I wonder what will hurt more; the physical pain of having your junk disintegrated by a gunshot or the emotional trauma of losing such a cherished appendage."

"Be sure to hold down the trigger to charge it. Power of a mini shotgun." Colorado added.

"Just a note Colorado, even when they're bad guys the family jewels are off limits. And you are helping her threaten family jewels." York whispered.

"He went to the roof! He keeps a stolen Prowler up there to escape!" The man squealed.

"Son of a bitch!" Tex growled. She leveled the gun to the man's head and pulled the trigger. Colorado grabbed the pistol from the air as she tossed it and followed as she ran up to the roof. They burst through the door to the roof, Nev catching up from running up the stairs, only in time to see the Prowler flying away.

"Son of a bitch!" Tex yelled.

"_Mother of Invention _this is Agent Texas. Target is fleeing in a stolen Prowler."

"Forget the mission, agent. We have an even more important task to complete immediately. Your transport will be there shortly." The Director's voice cut through the radio waves.

"Hey York?"

"Yeah?"

"Exhibits I and J."

"…I fucking hate you Nev…"


End file.
